A Taste of Redemption
by SlimReaper
Summary: Nick has a sister and that sister has a secret. It's up to Acheron to save her life and possibly the world-and by the way, she can't know a thing about it. Set in the DH world before Nick went nuts. Acheron/OC, warnings for delicious lemons.
1. Chapter 1

**All characters (except Maya) are the property of Sherrilyn Kenyon. Written for fun, not profit.**

The buzz that came from the small corner speaker wasn't strident or loud. It utterly silenced the three men as though an air raid siren had gone off.

Acheron came to his feet with the lazy grace of a natural predator uncoiling in readiness to defend his territory. "I take it that's your new perimeter alarm," he commented dryly as Nick dashed for a huge antique bureau, jerking it open and yanking out weapons.

Kyrian had also leapt to his feet at the soft buzzing. "Yes," he said shortly. He spared one glance for his wife Amanda, who had skidded to a halt in the doorway cradling their newborn daughter Marissa in her arms. "Time for you to get to the basement, love, and don't open it for anyone but Ash or me." She fled at once and he waited only for the sound of the reinforced titanium door slamming and bolting before flipping on the computer.

For someone who was on the shady side of two thousand years old, Kyrian knew his way around a computer. A few keystrokes brought up the outside video feeds, showing every view of the house and perimeter fence for three hundred sixty degrees. The cause of the alarm was immediately visible as one view showed the heavy steel gate at the end of the drive twisted and hanging from its hinges. Red tail-lights glowed erratically up the drive.

Kyrian frowned at the screen. "Who the hell is that? That gate's supposed to be strong enough to withstand being rammed by a semi!"

A green Blazer crawled slowly along the drive, the grill-guard twisted from plowing through the gate and the engine stuttering as if damaged by the impact with the reinforced steel and just managing to still run. The head lights, amazingly unharmed, blazed so brightly the cameras couldn't make out the driver. Acheron looked over Kyrian's shoulder. "I'm not familiar with it—it's not one of ours," he said. "How many Daimons you think could fit in one of those things?"

Nick turned, a crossbow in each hand. "Daimons coming here? Surely they're not _that_ stupid—oh, wait, we _are_ talking about Daimons." He headed over to the monitor as Acheron and Kyrian watched the Blazer rolling straight toward Ash's Buell motorcycle as its engine died at last.

"They are about to seriously piss me off," Acheron growled. The bike was custom built for his six foot eight inch height and was his baby.

Both men spun around as a crash came from behind them. Nick stared in shock at the screen, the dropped crossbows lying forgotten on the floor at his feet. "Oh shit," he breathed, then bolted from the room and straight out the front door. Kyrian and Acheron exchanged one puzzled look before following the Squire at top speed.

Nick raced to the door of the Blazer, jerking it open without hesitation and slamming his foot down on the parking brake. It just kissed the back tire of Ash's motorcycle, rocking it gently on its springs. "_Damn it,_ Maya,I told you _never_ to come here—" Nick was almost moaning as he stopped the heavy vehicle from running down the bike.

And then he broke off, only to burst out with a stream of vicious curses. Only the words, "That rat bastard," and "_die_ for this!" were clearly audible in the tirade.

Acheron reached Nick first. "What the hell is this, Nick?" he demanded.

Nick spun around, filling the open door with his body and blocking Acheron from seeing into the Blazer. "Give me a leave of absence," he demanded, looking past Acheron at Kyrian. "Let me leave right now."

Kyrian crossed to the front of the Blazer and stepped up on the bumper to look through the windshield. Nick held the side of his jacket out, blocking the driver from Kyrian's view without budging to let Ash look past him.

Kyrian frowned. "Not until you tell us what's going on here. This came to my house, Nick. You owe me an explanation." Nick set his jaw stubbornly and Kyrian knew that look. He glared back just as adamantly. "I can have you chained in the attic, you know," he pointed out. "I might be minus black eyes and fangs but I still have all my parlor tricks intact and I guarantee I can take you down, boy. Don't try me."

Acheron crossed his arms over his chest. "Forget Kyrian," he said sharply. "He's no longer a Hunter and no longer your boss. You answer to me now, Nick. Move now or I guarantee I'll move you."

Nick looked up at Acheron and swallowed hard but didn't budge. "She doesn't know anything," he said persistently. "Let's keep it that way, okay? Let me go, Ash. I'm just going to kill someone and come right back."

"Oh, well, now _that_ makes it all okay then," Kyrian said brightly from the front of the Blazer. "Sure, Nick, run along now and commit your murder. Not."

Acheron didn't waste time on words. He simply reached out a hand, caught Nick by the shoulder, and lifted him bodily out of the way, ignoring Nick's struggles to fight his way back between the ancient Atlantean and the driver of the Blazer.

Whatever he'd expected, it wasn't the sight that met his eyes. A young woman was slumped in the seat, unconscious or worse, he couldn't tell. Her hair obscured her face and her clothes—not to mention her hair, the seat, steering wheel, and seatbelt—were covered with blood. Ash swore and roughly shoved Nick at Kyrian who caught the Squire and restrained him from rushing back at the Blazer. "Don't, Ash, please! She doesn't know anything!" Nick yelled as Acheron reached into the Blazer.

"I'm not going to hurt her," Acheron snapped as he unbuckled the seatbelt and gently lifted the injured woman from the vehicle. She lay bonelessly in his arms, arousing protective instincts far more potent than his usual determination to protect mortals. He was actually _enraged_ at the sight of her blood. Ash dismissed the strange emotion—he would examine that later—and turned a scathing glance on the Squire. "And I'm disappointed the thought would cross your mind that I'd slay her even if she knew everything about us! I'm not a Daimon, Nick."

Nick had the decency to look ashamed. "She's my sister," he said, shaking his arms free of Kyrian's bruising grasp and rushing back to Acheron's side. He brushed the blood-soaked hair back from the young woman's face with a shaking hand. "My half-sister through my worthless father." He looked up at Acheron with agonized eyes. "Maybe I'm a little overprotective, but—I'm all she's got, Ash. "

He had to grit his teeth at the anger that wanted to come at the thought of this woman being alone in the world. "It's clear she came here for help," Ash said, turning back to the huge house. "Let's be sure she gets it." It was a struggle to keep the rage from his voice.

What the hell _was_ this feeling?

Nick followed Acheron back into the house and up the stairs as Kyrian ran down to the basement to get Amanda. "You know who did this," Ash said. It wasn't a question.

Nick's face hardened. "I have a pretty good idea," he growled, his fists clenching. "I intend to teach that worthless bastard a lesson he'll never forget."

Ash ignored that. "And why would she come here instead of going to a hospital, you have an answer for that one too?"

Nick ground his teeth. "My guess? The asshole's probably trolling around the ERs in town right now, looking to finish her off."

Acheron pushed open the door of the guest bedroom beside Marissa's nursery and placed Nick's sister on the bed. He studied her for a moment, swallowing a red rage at the sight of her numerous injuries, before just brushing her with his powers. He felt something unexpected and glanced at Nick. Why hadn't he mentioned this? "Well," Ash said, turning back to his patient, "she's had the living crap beaten out of her, but you'll be relieved to know that her baby is unharmed."

There was a thump and he turned to see Nick standing rigid by the wall, rubbing his fist, his face black as a thunder-cloud. "Hmm. I take it you didn't know you're going to be an uncle?" Acheron asked with that damnable calm that made Nick want to throttle him.

"No." The single word was spat from between clenched teeth.

Acheron's eyes narrowed. "The same one who did this?"

Nick nodded sharply. Ash sighed and shook his head, hiding a fresh surge of overprotective rage. "Why do women put up with that garbage?" he asked the ceiling.

Nick took a threatening step toward him before he remembered who he was dealing with and stopped short. No one attacked Acheron and lived. "Maya's not like that," he snapped, jamming his hands into his pockets. "She left him the first time he ever touched her in anger, and he's lucky she didn't kill him. He's been stalking her ever since. That's why she's in New Orleans—she'd been living in Los Angeles." His eyes burned. "Let me kill him, Ash. Let me do my sister and the world a favor and exterminate this bastard!"

"You're not killing anyone," Acheron said shortly, sitting on the edge of the bed and preparing to summon his healing powers. "You're a mortal and you can go to jail. The Squire's Council has little patience with revenge."

Nick said something very rude about what the Squire's Council could do with their rules.

Acheron lifted Maya's hand and paused as he examined it, ignoring the fuming Squire. "Good for her," he commented, seeing the scraped knuckles that only came from fighting and landing punches. He heard Kyrian and Amanda enter behind him, heard Amanda's gasp of dismay. "Looks like she got in a few of her own back."

Nick raised his chin. "Maya's a fighter," he said with heated pride. "I told you, she's not the type to roll over and take it."

"I'm going to heal the worst of it now," Ash said. "Nick, be ready in case she wakes up. I don't intend to wake her, but if it happens, I'm not exactly warm and cuddly to look at." He looked over the top of his sunglasses and met the Squire's eyes. "If I heal everything it'll raise questions in her mind. I want you to know that's the _only_ reason I'm not doing it. Understand?"

Nick swallowed, remembering his behavior in the driveway. "Thanks," he said awkwardly. "Sorry, man."

Acheron didn't reply. He sent a wave of power through her body, carefully investigating the baby first, making sure the tiny life was as completely unharmed as he had first thought. Only when he was sure did he move on, knitting together her ruptured spleen, erasing the deep bruises on her liver and kidneys, mending cracked ribs and loosened teeth. She'd lost a lot of blood, both from her internal injuries and from the multiple lacerations covering her body. One arm was broken in three places, a spiral fracture that only occurred when a limb was violently twisted.

She'd taken one hell of a beating. It was beyond extraordinary that the baby was unharmed.

But by far the most severe injury was the deep laceration at the back of her head that accounted for most of the blood that covered her. She had a skull fracture and an expanding brain bleed that could have easily killed her even with hospital care. Acheron eased it into a mere concussion, fighting the desire to reverse it altogether. She'd be hurting when she awakened, no doubt, but there was only so much he could do about it without arousing her suspicions. The amount of damage she'd sustained was incredible, especially considering she'd still managed to drive herself here. He could hardly believe she'd been able to do it, her injuries were that severe. Only the exterior bruises he left untouched, remembering that she'd expect to awaken with them. But it was difficult.

When he was finished he completely understood Nick's burning desire for bloody revenge. Men who used their fists on women didn't deserve to live, he had to agree with the Squire there. But Nick was a Blood Rite Squire and Ash couldn't have him using his strength and rage for revenge on a human. That was a dangerous precedent to set, no matter how justified it seemed.

But the desire for retribution had also been sparked in his own heart, and Acheron had no intention whatsoever of letting this crime go unpunished.

How he wished he could do it himself.

"Amanda," Acheron said. "Would you fetch Nick's sister something to sleep in and help her to change?"

"Of course," Amanda said, running from the room to grab a nightgown for her.

"Nick, go down to her Blazer and make sure she didn't leave anything she'll need in it," Acheron ordered.

"But—"

Ash fixed him with a stare Nick felt even through the sunglasses. "Now, Nick." Nick finally left, grumbling and complaining, but he left.

Only when both were gone did Ash rise and turn to Kyrian. "You seem like the perfect man for this job," he said softly. "Nick's sister is pregnant and the man who beat her was most likely by the baby's father. I have no intention of telling Nick this but I'm not sure a hospital would have done her much good in the state she was in. I'm of the opinion that society doesn't need this particular asshole. How about you?"

Kyrian's eyes burned as he thought of Amanda and Marissa. If any man dared to even _touch_ either of them, much less beat them this brutally… "I'll take care of it. Give me a name or a face," he growled.

Acheron's mouth twisted in an expression that in no way resembled a smile and would have sent shivers down a serial killer's spine. "You'll have to wait for her to awaken for that," he said. "Nick thinks the guy's waiting for her in New Orleans to finish the job. You're not a Hunter any longer; you can take in and protect anyone you want. Any details that particular person lets slip, I don't know about. Anything you choose to do about it, you know how to clean up."

Kyrian grinned in perfect understanding. "I love the way your mind works sometimes, Acheron," he said.

Amanda and Nick arrived back almost simultaneously. "So what did you kick me out of the room for?" Nick demanded, glaring from one to the other.

Acheron crossed his arms over his chest, back to his usual unreadable self, and Kyrian looked angelic. Amanda glanced suspiciously at her husband out of the corners of her eyes. She knew that look. "What are you up to, Kyrian?"

He held his hands out. "What? I was just talking to Ash about taking Nick's sister in until she's well enough to get back on her feet—making sure there's no problem," he said innocently. "Since I'm not in the business anymore, it's cool. She'll stay with us until this is sorted out."

Amanda beamed at him and went up on tip-toes to kiss his cheek. "You're a sweetheart," she murmured in his ear. Nick rolled his eyes. "Of course she'll stay. Nick, you too. I know you'll want to be with your sister until she's back on her feet again, and I for one want to know what happened to her!" Her sorceress's eyes were snapping with magic and fury.

Nick threw up his hands in defeat. "Okay, okay, we'll stay, I know when I've been out-maneuvered," he grumbled. "Until I serve that bastard his heart on a platter, that is," he added under his breath.

Ash pointed a warning finger at Nick. "If I have to confine you I will," he said evenly. "Understand me in this, Nick. I won't take kindly to a Squire going up on murder charges. Got it?"

Nick glared but didn't dare voice direct disobedience to Acheron's face. "Yeah, whatever," he said in completely unenthusiastic agreement. Then he spoiled even that by muttering, "Murder charges only happen if you get caught."

Acheron shook his head. "Now, now, Uncle Nicky," he chided, "don't you want to be present for your little nephew's birth? Because if the cops don't get you, you can rest assured I will."

Amanda's eyes went wide. "She's _pregnant?"_ she echoed in disbelief. Her eyes raked over Maya's bloody clothes. "Oh my God! Is the baby—"

"Fine, Amanda, don't upset yourself," Ash reassured her. "She's carrying a perfectly healthy boy, not a scratch on him even before I intervened, and no sign that she's in any danger of miscarrying. She's almost four months along, if you want to know. You can have your sister check her over, but right now she's fine." Then he turned back to Nick. "I want a better promise from you than _yeah, whatever._"

Nick sighed harshly and ran both hands through his hair in utter exasperation. "Damn it, Acheron, she's my sister!" he protested. "Look what he did to her!"

Acheron rose to his full height. "I know exactly what he did to her. I healed her, remember? But I can't touch the mental and emotional wounds. She needs you for that and you can't do it from prison—or from where I would send you, which would make prison look like day camp. Think of serving Zarek in Alaska. Now give me your word or I'll chain you in your room."

Nick spat several words that had nothing to do with agreement, but finally gave Acheron a promise he'd accept.

Ash sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Good, that's settled. I'll be staying elsewhere until this is over, I think. She knows nothing and it's to stay that way. She is to be prevented from meeting any Dark-Hunters at any cost. A pregnant woman with knowledge of us would be too sweet a treat for the Daimons should they catch her scent, and I don't exactly 'blend.' Keep me updated by email, Kyrian."

Kyrian nodded once but Amanda frowned. "Ash, this place is huge and you already have your own wing," she protested. "Don't put yourself out. You're nocturnal and she'll be in the bed for a day or two at the very least, right? I don't see that it has to be a problem. Stay with us, where you're comfortable."

It was still strange to him for anyone to be concerned about him even though he'd lived, off and on, with Kyrian and Amanda for a year now. It still touched his heart. Acheron shrugged nonchalantly so she wouldn't realize just how much it meant to him. His emotions, his weaknesses, were deeply hidden and ruthlessly protected. "We'll play it by ear," he said noncommittally.

Amanda made shooing motions with her hands. "All right, now you men get out and let me get her out of these awful things," she said, moving to the bed and untying Maya's shoes. Kyrian closed the door behind them as Amanda gently eased the unconscious woman out of her bloodstained jeans and blouse. With every bruise she revealed, her fury grew. "You poor girl," she whispered, fighting the urge to use her own powers to erase every trace of the wicked beating Nick's sister had suffered. "We won't let anything happen to you here. You and your baby have a safe place for as long as you need it, and that's a promise."


	2. Chapter 2

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Little men with jackhammers were busily demolishing highways in her head, which only made sense because the rest of the demolition crew had apparently been at the remainder of her body with a wrecking ball.

Maya came awake with a moan, wishing for the bliss of unconsciousness again. It wouldn't come. The bed, for all its softness, was agony against a particularly sore spot on her hip—the vivid memory of a snakeskin boot slamming into her burst in her brain—and she shifted, groaning as the rest of her body protested loudly. The sunlight and cheery birdsong pouring through the open window made her want to roll over and die.

The only problem was, when she opened her eyes to investigate the best position in which to accomplish this, she had absolutely no idea where she was. And dying was something she found that she just couldn't do while she was disoriented and curious. _Curiosity,_ she thought bitterly, _the bane of my existence, when will I learn that?_

Brief memories sparked across her sore brain. Dragging herself into the Blazer when she'd finally managed to get away from Jay through sheer luck and will more than anything else. Concentrating on the address Nick had given her when she'd gotten him so drunk he hadn't known what he was doing; the one he'd been so furious to find he'd let slip that he'd made her swear never to come there under any circumstances. She definitely remembered a huge iron gate and a frustration that had run so deep she would've screamed if she'd had any strength left to do so. Then, just blackness.

All right, what memories she could dredge up seemed to indicate that she'd made it to the Forbidden Address, or at least to the gate. And this lovely, elegant room was definitely no hospital ward. She closed her eyes, seeking the darkness again, hoping against hope she'd faint and end the throbbing pain that made her want to vomit. The light was agonizing even though it wasn't really that bright in the room. Dawn was just breaking, but even that little bit of sunshine screamed through her tender eyes. _Faint, please,_ she begged her body. But damn it all, she'd never been the fainting type, and her body apparently wasn't going to oblige her and start now.

But a new sound interrupted the birds. A soft, hesitant crying—a baby who wasn't quite sure whether or not to bring the house down yet.

Maya was out of the bed in one convulsive movement, her only thought to quiet that baby. _He couldn't find out about the baby!_ She couldn't walk yet so she crawled, following the soft, intermittent cries. Thankfully the nursery was next door and the changing table was sturdy enough for her to pull herself up on beside the crib.

The baby was beautiful, a tiny, still-sleepy bundle in a pink sleeper. Maya reached down and carefully gathered her up, cradling the child to her heart as she lowered herself back to the floor. "Hush, little bit," she whispered, ignoring the explosions of pain in her arms and spine and rocking the baby. "Shh, now, I won't let anything hurt you."

And slowly her raging thoughts slowed and she was able to think again, just a little. The baby's diaper was wet, so Maya reached up and dragged a fresh diaper and the wipes off the top of the changing table before simply placing the still-fussing baby on the floor. No way could she stand long enough to use the changing table—it had been all she could do to just get the baby out of the crib.

She'd just buttoned the sleeper and picked the fussing child back up when she heard footsteps in the hallway. "Hey, Marissa, you gotta work on these early hours, babe," a male voice was mumbling, coming nearer.

She clutched the baby close, her heart pounding with terror. _He can't find out about the baby!_ she thought incoherently, trying to find the strength to leap up and run.

Kyrian froze in the doorway of the nursery, unable to believe the sight that met his eyes. Nick's sister was an almost solid mass of black and blue but had still somehow managed to beat him to the nursery. She now sat in the floor with Marissa cradled protectively to her chest, her blackened, bloodshot eyes wide and terrified as she stared up at him. By the gods, this woman reacted to a crying baby faster than Acheron, and he'd never seen anyone freak at the sound of a baby's cry faster than the Atlantean!

And she looked ready to fight him tooth and nail if he so much as took a step in her direction.

"Oh, hey," he said softly, holding up his hands palm-out, knowing the sight of a bare-chested, long-haired, scarred and muscular male so soon after a man had almost beaten her to death couldn't be reassuring. The unreasoning fear on her face certainly backed him up on that assessment. "That's Marissa, my daughter. I'm Kyrian Hunter. I'll get your brother." And ignoring the strong parental urge to grab Marissa away from the terrified woman—from the looks of things, all Maya had done to Marissa was cuddle her and change her diaper—Kyrian backed away and hurried to rouse Amanda and Nick.

Maya sat frozen, holding the baby protectively. Only when a tall and lovely woman entered a moment later did she feel some of the terror leave her. "Good morning," Amanda said warmly, smiling easily as though nothing was wrong, her hair tousled with sleep. "I'm sorry she woke you up. You didn't have to change her, but thank you. I'm Amanda, Marissa's mother. Here, you have to be hurting like crazy. I'll take her if you like."

Amanda slipped the baby from Maya's arms and smiled at her again. "We weren't expecting you to get up for a day or two at least," she said, apparently unperturbed by Maya's lack of any reply. "We're certainly glad to see we were mistaken!"

Footsteps pounded up the stairs and Nick rushed in. "Maya!" he cried, falling to his knees beside her, and at that moment the dam burst. Maya was as startled as anyone else when she burst into tears and she covered her face, embarrassed.

Nick put his arms around her and rocked her as gently as he could. "Shh, sis, you're safe now," he soothed. "No one can touch you here, I promise you that."

Marissa chose that moment to wail in earnest. Maya sniffed and made a sound of dismay. "I scared her," she whispered. "I'm sorry!"

Amanda waved a hand and shook her head. "Nah, the little glutton is just hungry," she said lightly. "Why don't you let Nick get you back to bed and I'll bring you up some breakfast in a couple of minutes?"

They didn't wait for her to agree. Amanda carried the howling baby from the room as Nick helped Maya to her feet. She couldn't stop the gasp of pain at the movement but she shook her head sharply when he offered to carry her. "I'll make it," she said through gritted teeth. She would never depend on a man for anything, not even her brother, not even when every movement was agony.

Nick didn't say a word until she was back in bed, pillows plumped and plush comforters tucked around her. Then he dragged a chair up beside the bed and frowned as he gently stroked her hair back from her forehead. "Did Jay do this to you?"

Maya closed her eyes and turned away. "Stay out of it, Nick."

She could practically hear him grinding his teeth. "You know something, sis? You scared the living hell out of all of us showing up here last night looking like you'd gone twenty rounds with Ali. At first I couldn't even tell if you were alive or dead. Hell, no, I'm not staying out of it! It's him, isn't it?"

"Nick, I'm sorry that I scared you, but I don't want you to go after him."

"If you dare say that stupid crap about how he really loves you I might deck you myself," he growled.

Maya's eyes snapped open to glare at him. "And I think I'll deck _you_ for that when I'm back on my feet," she growled back. "The only reason I don't want you to go after him is because I fully intend to have the pleasure of cutting off his balls myself!"

Amanda stepped through the door at that moment, her eyes twinkling. "I like you already," she announced, grinning in a way that let Maya know she'd overheard her threat. "I want you to know you're welcome to stay here for the duration of your stay in New Orleans. In fact I'm going to insist on it. Now here, I have your breakfast. Nick, away with you, go play with Kyrian."

Nick grumbled but kissed Maya's cheek. "I'll be back in a little while," he said softly. "Eat something, all right? You're nothing but skin and bones."

"And muscle, little brother. Don't forget it." But she smiled as she said it.

Amanda waited until he'd left before taking his chair and placing the tray she carried over Maya's lap. "I'd ask how you're feeling but I never had much patience with stupid questions," she said. She held out a tiny cup with two pills in it. "First course, painkillers."

Maya took the little cup out of reflex but didn't pop the pills into her mouth. "Don't say anything to Nick," she murmured, "but I think I might be pregnant."

Amanda smiled and plumped her pillows unnecessarily. "We had, um, a sort of doctor look you over when you got here. You _are_ pregnant, dear. The pills are safe for the baby. One of my many, many sisters is a midwife and she sent them over for you, along with a prenatal vitamin."

Maya paled beneath her bruises but swallowed the pills with a sip of juice. "So I guess Nick already knows," she sighed. "Not exactly how I planned on telling him… and I'll bet he thinks Jay's the father."

"Jay's the soon-to-be-eunuch?" Amanda asked.

"That's him," Maya said, her lips twisting bitterly. "And in answer to the question you're much too polite to ask, no, he's not. I never slept with that—well, I don't really know you well enough to show you how well I can swear."

Amanda smiled and nudged a slice of toast closer to Maya's hand. "That actually makes a part of me feel better, though it doesn't really matter. I know it happens, but I hate to think about men who beat the women who carry their children."

Maya shrugged. "Well, the truth isn't much better," she said. "I don't have a great track record with men, and why I'm telling you this is beyond me, but hey, here goes. After I broke up with Jay and he started stalking me I decided to show him I could do whatever I wanted. My big declaration of independence was the only one night stand of my life." She rested a hand protectively over her still-flat stomach. "That would be the father. I don't even know how to begin to find him to notify him, or if he'd even want to know. It was all first names and not even that good."

"Well, it's all water under the bridge now," Amanda said lightly. "The important thing is that your baby's fine and doesn't share genes with a psychopath. Now please, eat something! If not for you, then for that baby."

Maya smiled suddenly and Amanda was stunned at how completely it transformed her face. Beneath the bruises and swellings, her bone structure was fine and delicate and her unusual amber eyes sparkled with sudden joy. Her dark hair glowed with deep golden highlights in the dawn light. "I've always loved babies," she murmured, picking up the toast but not seeing it. "I wasn't sure—I was afraid to take the test in case it was negative, but I—God, I _hoped!"_

Amanda patted her hand, carefully avoiding her scraped knuckles. "I'm happy for you, then, and I know how you feel. I love Marissa more than life. Finding out I was pregnant was one of the happiest days of my life." As Maya bit into the toast, chewing with a wince, Amanda remembered Nick's fury as she'd entered earlier. "Would you like me to tell Nick that Jay's not the father, and kind of gloss over the other details for you?" she offered. "I don't have a brother but I do have nine sisters, so I know how siblings can be."

Maya smiled gratefully. "That would be great of you," she said. "Thanks. He's a great brother, but he can be… intense."

"You know," Amanda added, thinking of Kyrian's worried face as he'd woken her, "my husband can be the same. Intense, I mean. Don't be taken in by how he looks. He's appointed himself your protector while you're here, and he's afraid he scared you this morning."

Maya remembered her first sight of the tall, imposing man in the nursery doorway. The terror that had flooded through her, the certainty that Jay had found her. "It wasn't him," she reassured Amanda. "It's just… well, I wasn't expecting to look up and see him there, and I guess I over-reacted."

Amanda waved her hand. "He just doesn't want to frighten you. We understand what you've been through and that strange men are going to be uncomfortable for you. But I just want you to know that Kyrian has never hurt a woman in his life."

Maya nodded. "Tell him I'm sorry I freaked out." She wished she could promise she wouldn't do it again. But that resemblance…

"I will do no such thing," Amanda replied at once. "You have nothing to be sorry for. He scared the crap out of me the first time I met him, too. Of course, he was playing with me, but that's another story—he's got a weird sense of humor but he'll keep it well under wraps until he knows you better."

Maya tried to smile again and finished her toast with an effort. Then she yawned. "I think those pills are kicking in," she said. "I'm suddenly very sleepy."

"Best thing for you," Amanda said practically. "Sleep. I'll bring a bell up and you just ring it when you need something. One of us will come check on you."

Maya blushed. "I couldn't do that—ring for you like you were my servants or something!" she protested.

Amanda scoffed. "Quit," she said sternly. "If you were in the hospital, you'd have a call bell and wouldn't think twice about using it. Besides, you did diaper duty this morning so I owe you big-time. Marissa can crank out some seriously nasty poo, I know from experience." She took the tray and pulled the comforter up to Maya's chin. "Sleep tight, Maya. I'll talk to Nick for you, and we have a security system you wouldn't believe, so don't worry about a thing."


	3. Chapter 3

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

#&#

Amanda descended the stairs, the tray on her hip, and was immediately confronted by three sets of anxious eyes.

Nick scowled at the still nearly-full breakfast tray in Amanda's hands. "She didn't eat a thing!"

"She's tired, Nick," she said patiently. "She ate some toast and took something for pain that knocked her out. I'll bring her something later."

"Pain pills?" Kyrian asked. "Are you sure that's safe?"

"Es sent the pills, they're fine for the baby," Amanda said, setting the tray on the kitchen bar. "Oh, and Nick, she says Jay's not the baby's father. She wants you to know that she never even slept with him. The baby's father is someone else."

"Who?" Nick demanded, just as Amanda had thought he would.

Amanda smiled. "She didn't say and I didn't ask," she lied glibly, her back to them. "And you're not going to ask either because she's hurting and miserable and I'll flatten you if you try it," she added, turning to glare at him.

Acheron frowned. Amanda's description of Maya's condition obviously bothered him more than a little. "How bad is her pain?"

Amanda raised an eyebrow, looking up at him. It was beyond odd for him to give any indication of his feelings. "Bad," she said simply. "She looks like she's been run over by a Mack truck." She was too glad he hadn't left the house to ask why he hadn't done more for her, but his reply showed that as he so often seemed to, he'd heard her unstated thoughts quite clearly.

"She has very clear memories of it," Ash said, running a hand through his hair in another uncharacteristic show of agitation. "I didn't want her to wake up thinking she'd been unconscious for a month or something, but damn, I didn't want her _miserable_, either."

Kyrian sighed. "There's no happy medium," he said. "Either she's gonna hurt or she's gonna wonder why she's not hurting. And I'm sure her little morning stroll into the nursery didn't help." He bounced Marissa in his arms and grinned down at her before meeting his wife's eyes. "We need to move her into a bassinet in our room or something, Amanda, if she's going to wake up Maya. She can't be dragging herself down the hall every time the baby cries."

Acheron raised his eyebrows. "She tended Marissa?"

Kyrian told the story of finding Maya in the nursery. Ash shook his head slowly. "Perhaps you should move her further from the nursery," he said. "If she woke that quickly, moving the baby one more door down won't help."

"There's not another room. Nick's in the last one in our side. The only other rooms are in your wing, Ash," Amanda said.

He shrugged. "As I said, I can always find another place to sleep."

Amanda pursed her lips and frowned. "It's not right, running you out of your place," she murmured. "No, and it's not necessary either. She woke up in a strange place hearing a baby cry, of course she reacted strangely. I don't think it'll happen again anyway. We'll keep Marissa quiet, Ash. This is your home."

"She has more need of peace and quiet than I do of convenience, Amanda. I can find somewhere else to go. Put her in the other wing."

"Oh, bull," Amanda said hotly. "I'm not putting you out and that's final!"

He couldn't help it, he smiled at her, this small mortal woman who persisted in caring for him. "You have a stubborn wife, Kyrian," he commented to the ceiling.

"You have no idea," Kyrian told Marissa. Nick laughed at both of them and refrained wisely from commenting.

#&#

Two days later Maya had had just about all she could stand of lying in bed. True, she still hurt just about everywhere she could think of, but she was so bored she couldn't see straight. Nick had come in to bug her about eating more but she just couldn't get up much of an appetite watching television, reading books, and sleeping most of the time. She almost wished he'd start in on Jay or bug her for the name of the baby's father just to have a nice argument to liven things up, but Nick had behaved perfectly.

Apparently Amanda had better luck getting him to mind his own business than Maya ever had, but it left her bored out of her mind.

So as the sun set she got out of bed and stretched carefully, testing her muscles. She swore softly, wincing. _Everything_ hurt. Damn, Jay had done a number on her! She'd see him pay for this if it was the last thing she ever did, that was certain.

But despite the pain of her multitude of bruises, Maya was stunned that she didn't seem to have any fractures. Not her ribs, not her jaw, not even her arm where he'd twisted it viciously behind her back until she'd actually heard it crack like popcorn. How she'd escaped that she had no idea, but she blessed her good fortune. Bruises she could work through and keep her martial arts skills intact—and she definitely wanted those skills ready at a moment's notice. Jay had some payback coming his way.

Her clothes had disappeared and she was fairly sure they'd been either ripped or bloodied beyond repair, if not both, so she was left with the latest nightgown Amanda had lent her and a long blue terry-cloth robe. She pulled it on, wincing as the movement stretched her shoulders, and belted it around her waist before pulling open the door.

The hall stretched before her like the road to freedom and Maya grinned at the thought. If nothing else, she hoped she could tire herself out enough to sleep more than a couple of hours at a time. Maybe she'd actually sleep deeply enough to avoid the nightmares.

She rested only twice on the way down the hall and was feeling pretty good before she saw the long, curving staircase. She stopped dead in her tracks, shuddering. Memory assailed her… _Jay kicking her, shrugging off the punches she landed, shoving her right down the concrete steps of her second story apartment complex… neighbors ignoring her screams, just another domestic spat, but he wasn't stopping this time, he was killing her and laughing while he did it—_

Maya shook her head sharply, a bolt of pain from her neck at the sudden movement helping to bring her back to the present. These stairs weren't concrete, they were carpeted, and they didn't descend sharply to an asphalt parking lot but gently swept down to marble floors below. Jay wasn't behind her, screaming in rage at her continued refusal to return to LA with him, beating her within an inch of her life, snakeskin boots dealing blows that shoved her ever closer to the edge of the steps…

_NO!_ she thought viciously, forcefully banishing the memories. _He is not here and I will _not_ allow him to have this power over me!_

She hadn't let him break her heart the first time he'd hit her and he hadn't managed to break her bones this last time. He wouldn't break her will, ever.

With that thought she set her foot on the top step and started down, clinging to the carved railing. Her strength was seriously waning with the effort of walking and she trembled uncontrollably, having to sit down and rest every few steps, but the carpeting was thick and plush and as comfortable on her abused rear and thighs as a good soft chair.

But when she reached the middle of the staircase she had to admit defeat. Exhausted, Maya sank down beside the railing and rested her forehead against the slats, wrapping her arms around them as her body screamed at her and wondering if this hadn't been a pretty stupid idea after all. Nick would have a hissy-fit if he found her here and while Amanda Hunter had been nothing short of an angel, kind and understanding and completely supportive, Maya didn't think she could haul her back up to her room. And despite Amanda's assurances, Kyrian's raw power and blond masculinity still unnerved her deeply. She didn't want that man picking her up and carrying her anywhere, huh-uh, no thanks. She'd just take a little breather and start back up on her own.

It took her a few minutes to register the huge pair of black boots that had paused on the step just below her bare feet. She stiffened, but these were biker boots, not snakeskin cowboy boots, and for some reason that distinction seemed incredibly important. Fear tried to rise but was swept away at once. These boots, huge and heavy as they were, didn't bring the instant association of being kicked around like a soccer ball. Braced wide on the step, they just stood there, patiently waiting for her to react to their intrusion on her solitude.

She followed them from the silver toes past the strange inlays just visible at the heels to the hems of a pair of black leather pants. Her gaze touched his calves—they proclaimed him definitely male, as if the great size of the boots could have left any doubt—heavily muscled calves bulging against the leather. Her gaze passed his knees to solid, powerful thighs. Thighs like a pair of oak trees clad in pants tight enough to show off every defined muscle. Goodness, this had to be the sexiest pair of male legs she'd ever seen, and they had to show up at a time in her life when she wasn't even the least bit in the mood to appreciate anything male. She hesitated to look any higher but her eyes were already moving. Whoever this person was, he possessed some seriously long legs, and standing three steps below her put her eyes just about on level with some rather dangerous territory.

Nope, absolutely not, she was not going to look _there._ Too many adjectives like "thick," "bulging, and "powerful" had already crossed her mind. _No way, huh-uh, don't even think about it,_ she told her eyes sternly. _We are _not_ ogling today._

Her eyes apparently weren't listening as they traveled over his lean, masculine hips with the clear intention of continuing what was unarguably a once-in-a-lifetime ogle. Maya exerted an effort and made herself blink at the last instant. She did _not_ want to check out this stranger's package, she told herself firmly.

She opened her eyes to find herself staring at a flat stomach, the tight tee shirt he wore in no way disguising the fact that his abdomen was one solid sheet of rippling muscle. Heavy arms crossed over his chest—a black leather jacket hid whatever she might have seen there, but there was no reason to think that someone this studly would fall apart at the arms and chest. Huge hands curled relaxed around his elbows, square and long-fingered. The kind of hands that would make a fist like a brick wall. Hands that should have frightened her in her current state combined with a total picture of strength and fathomless power for a whole that should have terrified any sane person, but somehow she didn't feel threatened. Somehow.

And now her sore neck really was protesting. Damn, but this man—whoever the heck he was—was seriously _tall_. Like Charles Atlas or Land of the Giants tall. She couldn't force her sore neck to crane any further back so she stopped her perusal at mid-chest and dropped her forehead back against her hands, still clasping the slats, just in case she slipped and pitched down the stairs.

That was one experience she had absolutely no desire to repeat.

He didn't seem inclined to introduce himself and she didn't feel much inclined to ask. What she felt like doing was yelling for Amanda or Nick to come tell her who this awe-inspiring stranger was, but she was just too damn tired. She wanted to get up and run but knew she didn't have the strength and would either end up falling into him or tumbling down the stairs, neither of which particularly appealed. So, all alternatives considered and rejected, she simply sat there, silent, eyes closed, and waited for whatever would happen next.

Acheron was exerting a powerful mental command to dull the natural shock and fear she should have felt to see him. Apparently it was working because apart from that slow, thorough once-over she'd given him that he'd felt like a full-body caress, she'd closed her eyes again and apparently completely dismissed him from her attention.

It was a novel experience for him. Throughout his life, women—married, elderly, royal, even divine, it didn't matter—had never been indifferent to him. As a mortal they'd lusted after him. Even before he'd become a Dark-Hunter, a fair few had been terrified of him. They'd begged for his sexual favors, run in terror, lusted for his powers or hidden in awe, but never dismissed him. This might be the first time he'd ever had any female, for whatever reason, turn away and just sit there.

But he knew that if he hadn't been dampening her reactions she'd no doubt be screaming her head off. He shouldn't even have approached her, but seeing her crumpled there on the stairs, holding on as though for dear life, her pain and exhaustion radiating out in waves, he hadn't been able to stop himself. If he'd gone for Nick or Kyrian and she'd somehow slipped…

The thought had been agony. So here he was, standing in front of her despite a thousand very good reasons to never let her catch a glimpse of him, trying to figure out how she'd gotten in such a predicament and what she planned to do now.

He heard her silent thoughts as clearly as spoken words. She'd been bored, of all crazy things, and had hoped an outing would kill the boredom and provide an exhaustion deep enough to extinguish her nightmares. He frowned at that, wondering if he should contact a Dream-Hunter to aid her in banishing them. Nightmares were as often the work of psychic vampires as an abused psyche, and it was his job to keep anything from aiding a Daimon of any kind.

But nightmares aside, she'd partially accomplished her goal—she was utterly worn out right now. She was wondering how she'd get back to her room, dreading Nick's lecture but fearing Kyrian's aid more. Ash's mouth twisted bitterly. No doubt she wouldn't exactly welcome his either.

Then a stray impression caught his attention—she feared Kyrian not because he was muscular, or powerful, or scarred, but because he was _blond._ Tall and blond and handsome like the man who had beaten her.

But he couldn't follow that line of thought right now while Maya was so obviously in need of assistance. He could see her trembling from weakness as she clung to the banister and his own body ached at the dark and obviously painful bruises that covered every inch of skin he could see. Those protective instincts reared their head again and he knew he had to help her. It was more than his duty, it was an imperative shouted from instincts he'd long ago learned to always trust. "I'll take you back to bed," he said softly, not wanting to just reach for her and startle her.

She jumped as if he'd shouted but didn't look up. She hadn't once looked at his face and he wondered if that wasn't a side effect of the fear-dulling command. Spells were sometimes funny that way. Would the sight of his face send her right over the edge into panic, he wondered? Not a first as far as reactions went, but definitely one of his least favorites and quite inconvenient should it happen now.

Or maybe, he thought suddenly, she didn't want to find out if he was blond like Kyrian—and he was glad his hair was currently black. He never wore his hair blond. Never.

"I don't know you," Maya murmured, her voice slurred with fatigue and shaking him from his thoughts. "Touch me and I'll kick you down the stairs. Get away."

Acheron smiled slightly. So, she had spirit. Good for her—she'd need it. Single motherhood was no picnic from all he'd seen. "No, you just don't remember me," he corrected her. His instincts were still screaming at him to touch her, hold her, save her. He frowned. She was just sitting on the stairs, he told his instincts firmly. She wasn't in need of saving.

But his instincts weren't listening.

"I was here when you arrived. I'm the doctor Amanda told you about," he added, plucking that information from her swirling confusion.

Maya gave a short laugh. "If you're a doctor, I'm the First Lady," she said with more than a touch of the sarcasm that kept Nick in such perpetual trouble.

"Well, then, First Lady," Ash replied lightly, "the Presidential Suite awaits you." Before she could protest again he lifted her in his arms, disengaging her fingers from the railing with hardly an effort and cradling her against his chest. She was weak as a kitten, her head falling against his chest and her arms dangling limply. He glanced down and found her eyes closed. It was almost a flashback to the night she'd arrived, though thankfully she wasn't covered in blood this time. Even so, it was a relief to have her safe in his arms again.

He frowned. He shouldn't be relieved. He should be furious that he'd broken his own order to keep her away from all Dark-Hunters.

Strange how protective he felt of her. Something within him demanded that nothing should be allowed ever harm her again, and that same something rose up and insisted that he be her protector. He shook his head to banish the odd notion, wondering why he should feel so inexplicably drawn to this mortal. Only when he'd returned her to her bed and dragged the blankets up around her did Maya open her eyes and look at him.

Maya didn't gasp or pale, neither fear nor lust clouded her eyes; she tried neither to retreat nor to touch him, and she did none of the other things women normally did at their first sight of him. Acheron found himself waiting for her reaction with something that felt strangely like anticipation. She stared at him for a long moment, surveying his face and sunglasses with an almost clinical detachment that made him wonder just what she saw. But when her reaction finally came she only whispered, "You're way too young to be a doctor—didn't anyone tell you Doogie Howser got canceled?" and closed her eyes again, falling asleep so quickly he knew she'd reached the end of her reserves.

It was a completely ridiculous thing to say to him considering he was well over eleven thousand years old, despite the fact that he still looked about twenty-one. Still, he felt almost… let down. Acheron stood and shook his head. He'd broken his own decree tonight and let Nick's sister meet an active Dark-Hunter—and a major one at that, himself, the head of them all. It wasn't something to be repeated, and if by some major miracle she didn't seem to be overcome with the unnatural lust that infected all of the other women he'd met in his long, long life, he should feel damned glad.

Not disappointed.

He turned and left, feeling vaguely disgusted with himself. Gods, all the times he'd ground his teeth and endured another estrogen feeding frenzy around him, and now an injured, exhausted woman half-drunk on his own magic didn't swoon at the sight of his face and he was annoyed? Ash closed her door quietly and shook his head. And he'd thought Talon had an ego!

Oh, yes, and let's not forget _pregnant _and_ human,_ Acheron reminded himself. She was exposed enough just being the sister of a Squire, since Squires had always been prime Daimon bait. No, he'd been foolish not to summon one of the others to aid her tonight, and he wouldn't compound that foolishness by giving her another moment's thought.

_Yeah, right._ His arms remembered how she felt cradled in them too well.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: As you might have noticed, this fic is going up fast. That's because it's already completed and I'm just chopping it into chapters and posting it whenever the mood strikes me. The mood will strike faster with reviews. Just sayin's all. ;)**

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya woke in the middle of the night, a scream straining to escape through clenched teeth, her battered body drenched in sweat and aching with tension.

Then she recognized the room and fell back against the pillows, gasping with the force of her relief. "Damn you, Jay," she whispered, wrapping her arms around herself and curling into a ball. "Damn you to hell for this!"

Okay, utter exhaustion was apparently no cure for the nightmares, and they were getting worse. Much worse. Maya couldn't even make herself think about this one, even knowing that it had only been a dream, knowing that she was still in bed, safe in Amanda and Kyrian's home with her brother just down the hall. She shuddered as bits and pieces of the horrific nightmare filtered through her mind despite her best efforts.

She yelped in terror when her door cracked open. "Maya? Are you all right?"

"Amanda!" Maya could have almost sobbed with relief at the welcome sight of the tall, raven-haired woman.

Amanda entered, leaving the door open a crack to allow a sliver of light to brighten the room. "I was up with Marissa a second ago," she said softly. "It sounded like you might be having a bad dream. Are you okay?"

Maya found herself shaking again. She wanted to reassure Amanda, to tell her it was nothing, but she couldn't force the words out. Finally she whispered, "It's so stupid—I know nothing can get to me here—so why are the nightmares getting worse instead of better?"

"Oh, hon," Amanda said sympathetically. "Anyone would have nightmares. It's not stupid—don't ever let me hear you say that again."

"I could have woken the baby—"

"So?" Amanda interrupted. "She'll go back to sleep. For pity's sake, Maya, I saw you when you came in! I'd be worried if you _didn't_ dream about what happened!"

Maya shook her head. Two silver tears slipped down her cheeks. "That's not what the dreams are about," she whispered. "I could handle that—I mean, I know I survived, my baby's okay, I'll be fine in a few days. But this—"

Amanda took her hand when she fell silent. "Can you tell me what they're about?" she asked gently.

Maya struggled visibly. Then she shook her head, completely miserable. "The future," she breathed, as though to give voice to the dreams would bring them to pass. "And—and I don't know if—if I survive again." She tried but couldn't say anything else.

Amanda hugged her and glanced over her shoulder at the open door where she'd left Kyrian. She knew he'd heard every single word. She hadn't told Maya but the poor woman had screamed as if someone was murdering her in her bed. Amazingly Marissa had slept through it, her round tummy full of milk, but she and Kyrian had bolted from their bed certain they'd find an intruder in the house. This was obviously no ordinary nightmare.

But she just happened to possess extraordinary means with which to fight such things. Amanda summoned her own powers to send her into a dreamless oblivion but choked back a gasp as auras suddenly leapt to life all around her. Maya's was strong, determined, shadowed by worry and injuries, but thoroughly human without a trace of blackness to indicate a curse or spell on her.

But the baby!

It blinded her, that aura which should have been so tiny she should have hardly been able to detect it. Liquid light so strong poured from that little life that she had difficulty separating the individual elements for several moments. Golden yellow, like pure sunlight, indicating deep wisdom and goodness. All shades of blue from aqua to cobalt and everything in between, denoting unswerving dedication to truth and righteousness, and a spirit so strong Amanda was tempted to use the word _indomitable._ But there was still more—purple, a color rarely seen and that only for moments at a time, radiated from the baby with a power and force that left her reeling.

Purple was a mystical color, the color of pure spirituality, of transcending the world and touching the divine. And Maya's baby blended these three powerful aural tones into a pure light Amanda had only seen when reading one other individual.

When he allowed it, which was rare indeed.

As though sensing that she was overwhelmed, the child's aura slowly subsided, in no way losing any of its might but turning down the sheer wattage enough to allow Amanda to perceive the faintest of black tracings at the edge. Not a curse, not a spell.

A shield. One that could only have been created by—but her mind refused to even acknowledge that as a possibility.

It was impossible for an unborn fetus to shield itself from astral attack!

"Sleep," she whispered hoarsely to Maya, grasping the shreds of her powers before shock flung them away completely. "Sleep dreamlessly, Maya, until I wake you."

Maya went under beautifully and Amanda slid off the bed with a thud. "Kyrian," she whispered, knowing he would hear her. He strode into the room without hesitation and the concern on his face told her he'd heard every word and caught the confusion she'd projected. "Kyrian, the baby, my God!"

#&#

Acheron was already in the living room when Kyrian and Amanda arrived a few minutes later, and he was obviously expecting them. Kyrian looked at him quizzically but Amanda was still too shaken to even notice. Ash answered Kyrian's unspoken question anyway. "I was up, of course I heard, and Nick's sleeping like a baby thanks to a little dose of mojo because I didn't think it'd help if he came rushing in there while your wife knocked Maya out. Now what's got Amanda looking like she's seen a ghost?"

"Damned if I know," he said, still supporting his wife with an arm around her waist. "She went in to take care of Maya and then just freaked out on me—I think she thinks there's something wrong with Maya's baby or something, I can't get anything coherent out of her at all."

Amanda shivered and seemed to come back to herself at the sight of Acheron. He felt her powers surge and knew she was reading his aura—gods, he hated that, but he wouldn't draw it in this time just in case she had a reason for it. "Not quite," she murmured. "Almost, but not quite the same… but what could _cause_ that?"

Ash took her arms and shook her gently. His heart pounded with a worry he couldn't explain. "What's going on, Amanda?" he asked sternly. "Give me a straight answer now or I'm going into your mind. I get the impression that this is too important for guessing games."

Amanda met his swirling mercury eyes. "The baby _has_ to have some kind of major power," she whispered, still agitated. "There's no other explanation—unless—no, that's impossible. Still—I mean, there's no other way, is there? Even your aura—it's not the same. Not as strong…"

Acheron turned and sped up the stairs while Amanda was still speaking. No, it couldn't be, he would've felt it at once if Maya's child possessed the kind of power Amanda described—wouldn't he? He pushed open Maya's door and found her sleeping peacefully, the mark of Amanda's spell clear on her as he opened his mind to find her aura.

Normal. Human, marked with her worries and injuries, but not touched by any curse. His enormous sense of relief was way out of line and well he knew it, but he couldn't tamp it down. There was no trace of any overwhelming power in the room. Amanda had to be wrong.

But then, as though catching his thought, a new aura suddenly came to life, a gentle radiance growing and growing until Maya's was completely obscured. And like Amanda, Acheron saw that thin black band, the evidence of a shielding so complete it had taken _him_ several hundred years to perfect it. No, he would not have detected _this_ even if he'd quested for it specifically—that shield was too strong. He opened his mouth, feeling Kyrian stop beside him, but no words would come. For the first time in untold thousands of years, Acheron was speechless.

Amanda was right, the baby had some serious power, but she didn't know the half of it. This child was almost certainly descended of a god. Nothing short of divinity could create such a luminescent aura, and there was no other way such a thing could have been so completely hidden from one with the abilities Acheron himself possessed.

Kyrian's sharply indrawn breath jolted Ash back to the present. "Damn," he whispered, wishing his extrasensory powers had included the ability to see auras. "First Amanda, now Ash—"

Acheron grabbed Kyrian so abruptly the former Dark-Hunter jumped. "Tell me _exactly_ what you heard when you listened outside the door," he demanded fiercely. "Every word, Kyrian."

Kyrian didn't even bother to ask how Ash knew he'd been outside while Amanda tended Maya. He recited everything, Maya's horror of her dreams taking on new importance to him. _The future,_ she'd said when Amanda had asked her what so terrified her in her dreams. _And I don't know if I survive again._

Acheron looked grim. "Get a Dream-Hunter in here," he ordered. "Get V'Edrix if you can. Hell, get him if you can't. There's something major going on here and I don't like working in the dark. Then do something for your wife. She's shocked but we need her at the top of her game until I know what's up."

"And Nick?" Kyrian asked.

"Say a word to him and I'll kill you myself," Ash growled.

"Good call," Kyrian agreed as he dashed out the door to call V'Edrix in.

The Dream-Hunter arrived less than an hour later. Bypassing all security, he simply materialized inside Maya's room, sparing only a brief nod for Acheron as he turned his attention to the woman on the bed. He sucked in a breath and narrowed his eyes at the sight of her bruises. Acheron had requested V'Edrix specifically because he'd always felt a special responsibility for those who had been abused and he'd known that one look at Maya would cut short any questions the Dream-Hunter might have asked.

As Ash had guessed, he didn't waste time commenting on her injuries or asking what had happened. V'Edrix simply dragged a chair up beside the bed and sat down. "The sorceress will need to remove her spell," he said. "It is a good one, but will hinder me."

Acheron stepped out and returned less than a minute later with Amanda. Whatever Kyrian had done for her, her eyes were no longer wild and her face, while pale, was calm again. She rested her hand over Maya's closed eyes and murmured a few words in her ear, not waking her but revoking the injunction not to dream. V'Edrix nodded his thanks and laid a hand on Maya's shoulder.

He shot a brief glance at Ash. "There is a reason she has not been healed, I presume?"

Ash felt a surge of irrational defensiveness as though he had been accused of negligence but pushed it impatiently aside. Damn, but he was edgy where this woman was concerned, and it wasn't like him at all. "She is a normal human," he said simply. "She knows nothing of any of us despite being the sister of a Squire. I thought it best to allow her to heal at a rate she won't question."

"Ah," V'Edrix said noncommittally. Then he closed his eyes, blocking Acheron out, focusing on Maya.

Long minutes passed. V'Edrix's face, so stony and emotionless when he dealt with humans or any other Hunters, lost its impassive cast as he followed Maya through her dreams. Every spasm of pain or fear that passed through her showed on his face but she slept calmly, her face angelic, as he took the terror from her.

And then his eyes flew open. His hand did not leave her shoulder and it was quickly clear that he did not see the room around him, continuing to walk in the world of her dreams, but his lips drew back from his teeth and his jaw clenched. Ash stood perfectly still lest any motion disturb the Dream-Hunter. He'd never seen a Dream-Hunter work with open eyes before and the strangeness of it made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. V'Edrix's forehead moistened with sweat and his breath quickened, shuddering as he absorbed whatever nightmare vision that had tormented Maya, but he did not move.

A glow started at the edges of Acheron's vision. He almost started but stopped himself in time, ever conscious of V'Edrix's open eyes. The radiance grew, suffusing the entire room as the minutes passed, until Ash closed his eyes in an effort to escape it. He'd never been uncomfortable with magic, but this was something far beyond anything he'd experienced before and there was little doubt at all where it came from.

Maya's unborn child was reaching out to the Dream-Hunter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

V'Edrix suddenly flung himself away from the bed with a hoarse cry, the chair toppling. "By all the gods, Acheron!" he shouted, his eyes wild, stumbling back as though released abruptly from a great struggle.

Ash reached out and caught his arm, steadying him. He'd never, _never_ seen a Dream-Hunter unnerved by anything they'd seen in a dream, and more than anything else that had transpired so far, that alone succeeded in scaring him. All his protective instincts rose up and roared. "What?" he demanded. "Tell me!"

V'Edrix ignored him, shoving Ash out of the way and plunging through the bedroom door. Acheron ran after him and stared as he leaned against the wall and took great breaths of air, composing himself. It was the strangest thing he'd ever seen. Oneroi didn't have emotions outside the dream world. There was no possible way V'Edrix could be feeling anger or fear, but somehow he was. What the hell kind of dream was Maya having?

At last the Dream-Hunter shot Ash an accusing look. "You complete bastard," he growled. "Just a _normal human_, you said, and I touch her dreams to find myself summoned before a god who was supposed to have died when _your_ continent went down ten thousand years ago!"

Acheron felt the blood drain from his face. It couldn't be. It was impossible. The Atlantean gods were all long dead by the hand of the Destroyer, and she was imprisoned unless someone somehow found a way to slay him, the last living Atlantean. If she'd managed to get free—but V'Edrix had said this god was supposed to be dead, so who—?

But V'Edrix didn't pause to give Ash any opening to ask questions. "But hey, here I go getting ahead of myself," he snapped. His unshakable calm was shattered and absolute fury screamed from every pore as he faced Ash. "Let's start at the start, shall we? Your little human in there had an Apollite boyfriend getting close to his last birthday, and he decided to mark her as snack number one, so there's your _normal human's_ stalker. You don't want to know what he's already done to her so don't ask. It'll just make me angrier to tell you and I'm already fighting the urge to punch you in the head, so we'll skip it. Besides, he's not really important. He's just a bump in the road compared to what's coming.

"Number two, those nightmares? Call them prophesy. Your _normal human_ has been elected a key player in a battle between those supposedly dead gods of yours." V'Edrix's metallic eyes shot sparks as he glared up at Acheron. "Your _normal human_ will get to hold all our lives in her hands. Fun, don't you think?

"Oh, but wait, there's one other little thing," V'Edrix said as Acheron opened his mouth to speak. "Your _normal human's_ baby? You thought it was maybe a demigod, right? Oh no, nothing so ordinary as some horny god's bastard." The Dream-Hunter's eyes burned into Acheron's. "I just got to meet _Archon_, does that name ring a bell for you, Ash? If not, wait a few months and introduce yourself when he's born!"

Acheron had to grab the doorframe hard to keep his legs from collapsing. Archon had been the ruler of Atlantis's pantheon, the son of Chaos and Splendor, and husband of the Destroyer Apollymi. He'd guarded his people with genuine care and love, even extending the hand of friendship to the outcast Apollites after Apollo had cursed them. His pure compassion had balanced out the Destroyer's absolute evil, but when roused his vengeance was unstoppable and every bit as vicious as his wife's. Archon had quite possibly been the most powerful god who had ever existed. He'd also been the only god Acheron had ever truly revered in his long and agonized life. The thought of _Archon_ in there, in Maya's womb… He couldn't seem to make his voice work to reply.

V'Edrix's rage was perfectly understandable now, odd as it was for him to still be feeling dream emotions while awake. If Ash had been asked to help another Hunter branch clear out a few Daimons and had instead been summoned directly into an ancient god's presence, he'd have been pissed too. "I didn't know," he said hoarsely at last.

"Oh, don't worry, Archon told me you didn't," V'Edrix snapped angrily. "Nice god, this Archon. He regrets the extreme measures but he needed someone's attention and lucky me, I got the call. He threw in a lovely kicker for you, Ash, and thank the gods it's you and not me. The Apollite still wants her soul and he's already in contact with Daimons here in New Orleans to apprehend her for him."

"Daimons don't work like that," Acheron said numbly. "Show one a strong soul and it's first come, first served."

"Well, call this the exception to that rule because they're all hunting her for this Apollite," V'Edrix countered. "You are to protect her, but Archon wants her to know nothing. Not one thing about Daimons or Dark-Hunters or anything else. Ha!" he laughed, throwing his head back. "Of course he can find another woman to bear him if you fail and she dies, but the timing seems to be rather important and guess what, he likes your Maya's spirit. Nice, don't you think? You've gotta love a god who appreciates his mother, even if she's only a _normal human._"

"Ye gods," Ash breathed. Words failed him.

"Exactly," V'Edrix said. "Like I said, better you than me." And with that he vanished.

Kyrian stuck his head out of the nursery door. "Acheron?" he said hesitantly a few moments later when Ash didn't move. "Anything I can do?"

Ash turned slowly, his face still hidden in the deep shadows of the dark hall. "You heard everything?" he asked slowly. "And Amanda?"

"I heard," Kyrian said. "But I sent Amanda to sit on Nick and make sure he didn't wake up, so she didn't hear." Acheron nodded, still moving as though in slow motion. Kyrian stepped out and approached cautiously. "Ash?"

He looked up and Kyrian shivered at the look of wide-eyed shock on his face. It was a look he'd never seen there before and after seeing it now, he never wanted to again. It scared the shit out of him. Acheron was… _Acheron._ He was unshakable. "Go look in on Maya," Acheron said at last, running a hand over his face. "Then meet me downstairs. I—need a minute to process all of this."

Kyrian did as he asked, glad to see Ash's mind starting to work again. Maya slept peacefully, a stray beam of moonlight highlighting her ivory skin and a gentle smile curving her lips.

Then he paused. Her face was completely unblemished.

Gently, so as not to wake her, Kyrian moved the comforter and examined her arms and shoulders—and again, no bruises marred her smooth skin. Even the abrasions on her knuckles were gone, leaving her hands as soft and delicate as if the injuries had never been.

Kyrian tucked her back in carefully. He didn't blame V'Edrix. If he'd been summoned before an ancient god and informed that the black and blue woman in the bed carried the god himself in her womb, and that the god wanted her protected not only because of his upcoming reincarnation but because he'd developed a personal affection for her… _damn_ straight Kyrian would have healed her, and screw whatever Acheron had said. Still, he hoped Ash saw things the same way V'Edrix clearly had.

Acheron was pacing restlessly in the den when Kyrian found him downstairs. "Archon was the god who granted the Apollites sanctuary on Atlantis, did you know that?" Ash asked as Kyrian entered and closed the door behind him. The den was completely soundproof when sealed.

Kyrian nodded. "I'd heard that early on when I became a Dark-Hunter," he replied, falling onto the couch and watching Acheron pace. "Actually, you probably told me that during my training."

Ash didn't seem to hear him. "It's an Apollite who threatens Maya now," he murmured, reaching the end of the room and spinning to stride back the other way. Every movement he made was rife with tension and barely restrained violence. "But Archon wants Maya protected. So does that mean we expire him or not?"

Kyrian frowned, perceiving the problem. "I'd say, the most recent decree should be the one to follow," he said finally. "Protecting Maya is specific. You wouldn't be sending your Hunters out on an Apollite killing spree, you'd just be after one."

Acheron swore viciously, turning again, his long legs crossing the room impatiently. "If only I knew when he's due to turn!"

Kyrian shifted uncomfortably. He had the distinct impression he wasn't really needed for this meeting. "Here's a thought," he ventured anyway. "Ask her? Don't girlfriends know birthdays?"

Ash stopped to pin Kyrian with a speaking look. "She's to know _nothing_," he growled. "Now just why would we want to know her abusive ex-boyfriend's birthday?"

"Well, hell, I don't know, Ash," Kyrian admitted, but he was still relieved that Acheron had spoken _to_ him instead of _at_ him. He still hadn't forgotten that shell-shocked look on the Atlantean's face outside Maya's room. "We could be planning to send him an exploding birthday present?"

Ash was pacing again. "Get serious, damn it," he snapped. "You have no idea what this god can do if he gets pissed off. The last time it happened he struck the ground once—_once—_and decimated an entire nation. You want that turned loose on you, you be my guest, but not me."

Kyrian sighed. "If we could only keep her here," he said wistfully. "She'd be nice and safe, and Amanda's sister could deliver her right here in the house."

"And she'd know something was up the minute she's better and we won't let her leave," Acheron said acidly. "I'll protect her, Kyrian, but I won't make her a prisoner."

"I didn't say it was practical," Kyrian said. "Just tempting." He watched Acheron complete another circuit of the room before clearing his throat. "Um, Ash, there's one more thing—"

Acheron whirled and fixed burning mercury eyes on him. "Don't _one more thing_ me right now, Kyrian," he growled. "We need some kind of a plan in place before she's out of the bed and begging to get out of the house."

Kyrian swallowed hard at the sheer menace in Ash's hard eyes. "That's the one more thing," he persisted bravely. "V'Edrix healed her before he left, Ash. When I checked on her, I didn't see a single bump or bruise."

There was a short moment of silence. Then Ash threw his head back and cursed long and loud, calling down all manner of plagues on the Dream-Hunter. Kyrian winced and hoped that the sound-proofing would keep those curses from reaching the cosmos and reducing V'Edrix to a little pile of smoldering dung.

Then Acheron flung himself down on the couch opposite Kyrian and squeezed his head between his hands. "I am going to be destroyed," he said, his tone completely calm. "I'll soon be a Shade again. There's no avoiding it."

"There's no need for fatalism, Ash, we'll keep watch over her and—" His thoughts stuttered to a halt. "Did you say _again_?"

"Ask me no questions, Kyrian, my patience is hanging by a thread and I feel a great urge to kill something," Ash muttered. He flung his arms across the back of the couch as he let his head fall back. "Why me?"

"Well, you are the last living Atlantean, aren't you?"

Ash turned and fixed his strange, multi-hued eyes on Kyrian. "And your point is?"

Kyrian shifted, uncomfortably remembering Acheron's recently stated desire to kill something, but he thought that answering was probably safer than not answering. "Well, Archon is a god of Atlantis, correct? Pretty much _the_ god from what you're telling me. And you're the only man alive who fully understands what his return means. Can it be coincidence that Maya found her way here under your wing?"

Acheron stared at him for so long that Kyrian began to wish he'd kept his damn mouth shut. Thinking carefully over his logic he saw that it could actually cut two ways—either Ash had been selected as a protector because he was uniquely qualified to succeed…

Or perhaps he was just doomed from the start and there was no way out.

But then Ash grinned. "One of those is certainly true," he said, and Kyrian knew Acheron had picked his thought right out if his head. Damn, he hated it when Ash did that—which was probably why Ash did it. "Go to bed. The solution will present itself."

And Kyrian went. But Acheron stayed there on the couch, his mind wrestling with the problem of how to surround Maya with Dark-Hunters and Katagari, and keep her within his own sight as much as possible without her managing to suspect that any of them even existed.

No wonder all his instincts had screamed at him to protect her.

He sighed as dawn painted the sky in brilliant hues that would have been lovely any other time. He'd done it for thousands of years, but never before had he so acutely felt the angst of dealing with the gods. It was definitely not for the faint of heart.

Good thing for him he'd never had one.


	6. Chapter 6

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya awoke to buttery mid-morning sunlight, the tantalizing aroma of breakfast, and Amanda Hunter's smiling face. "Good morning," Amanda greeted her warmly.

"Wow," Maya said, blinking, amazed at how rested she felt. "You were right, talking must have really helped. I can't believe how well I slept after that—what time is it? I feel like half the day is gone!"

Amanda smiled. "It's just past ten," she said. "And now let's see if your appetite's any better. I've been worried about you, you know. I swear you've been losing weight since you've been here. Feel like digging in?"

Maya returned the smile, feeling genuine hunger—miracle of miracles, what a difference a good night's sleep made! "I think so," she said with a wink, reaching for the fork as Amanda settled the tray across her lap.

And then she froze. Her hand—the skin was unblemished and pristine. "What in the world—" she breathed, shoving the sleeve of her borrowed nightgown up to inspect her arm.

No bruises. Maya grabbed the spoon and squinted at her reflection in the rounded bowl—_her_ _face_, not that swollen, discolored monstrosity that had greeted her yesterday. "How?" she gasped, pulling her legs out from under the covers to scrutinize them too, almost sending her breakfast flying as her body reacted with the strength and vigor it had forgotten over these last nightmare days of pain and weakness.

Amanda rescued the tray and thought fast. "My sister is a voodoo high priestess," she said quickly. "White voodoo, not the dark stuff. She said she was going to try to do something for you but wow, I had no idea it would work this well."

Maya's wide eyes flew to Amanda's face. "You mean voodoo is for _real?"_ she squeaked. "And I've really, truly been _voodoo'ed_ in my sleep?"

Amanda shrugged. "You tell me," she said, dancing around the edge of a blatant lie. She took the tray and stepped back. "Try to stand up," she urged, thrilled to see Maya restored to health. If she ever saw V'Edrix again she'd kiss him full on the mouth and Kyrian could just deal with it! "How do you feel?"

Maya swung her legs out of bed and stood without hesitation. Then she burst out laughing and stretched like a cat, extending her arms far over her head and arching her neck and back. "Only about a million percent better!" she cried joyfully. "I owe this sister of yours big-time. You're going to tell me her favorite chocolate and her favorite wine and I'm sending her a load of both. I'll never make a voodoo joke again!"

Amanda laughed. "Tiyana loves those jokes, you can't offend her," she assured her. "But chocolate and wine, hmm, now that sounds like a plan. Girl's night after the baby's born and we'll all three get nice and sloppy."

"Deal!"

"Wait just a second and I'll find you something to wear," Amanda said, still grinning. "You're a little taller than me but my jeans still might fit you. Let's see, are you showing yet?" Maya took up two handfuls of the nightgown at her waist so that her figure showed. "Nope, still flat as a board, and damn, girl, I envy you that! I'll be right back and you can get dressed and eat a meal at a real table, how does that sound?"

"Like parole," Maya laughed.

Amanda returned two minutes later carrying two pairs of jeans, a pair of sweatpants, and several tee-shirts. "Somewhere in this mess something ought to fit," Amanda said. "I'll wait right outside and we'll make our grand entrance together."

Kyrian stood when Amanda and Maya entered the dining room and folded up his newspaper, his movements slow and careful as always around Maya to avoid startling her. "Wow, Tiyana came through this time, didn't she?" he said with a smile, having been quickly filled in by Amanda while Maya dressed. "I guess I'll have to take back that gag voodoo curse-breaker computer program I got her for Christmas and actually buy her something nice."

Amanda swatted him lightly on the rear as she passed. "You'll probably get her something outrageously wonderful like you did last year and she'll spend the next two months bugging me to track down your long-lost twin brother," she teased. Maya gave Kyrian a somewhat wider berth and perched at the bar.

Kyrian smiled kissed Amanda on the forehead. "No brothers," he said. "I'm one of a kind. Too bad for Tiyana," he added, laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, take your ego and your messy paper and go play elsewhere," Amanda said. "Any more than one of him and we'd have to get a bigger house," she added in a slightly overloud voice to Maya as Kyrian disappeared into the den. "This one isn't big enough for _two_ humongous egos!"

Maya envied them their easy teasing and wished she could get past her wariness of Kyrian. He was casual about it, laughingly submitting to getting chased off by his wife, but Maya noticed how he'd started getting ready to leave the room soon after she arrived and knew he was aware that he made her uncomfortable. She was touched by his consideration and knew deep inside that such a man would never hurt her, but she couldn't help the gut-deep reaction.

In height, in coloring, in the confident swagger and even the breadth of his shoulders, Kyrian reminded her of Jay. And until more time had passed, no matter how hard she tried to rationalize it, Maya just couldn't stand to look at him. His gentle understanding only made her feel that much guiltier.

Amanda was re-heating her toast and eggs briefly in the microwave. Maya took a deep breath, knowing that neither Amanda nor Kyrian blamed her for her irrational reaction but wanting to make it right anyway. "Amanda," she said quietly.

The other woman turned but her smile turned to puzzlement at the sudden lack of warmth or laughter in Maya's amber eyes. "What's wrong?" she asked at once. "Are you all right? Are you hurting again?"

Maya waved a hand, dismissing those concerns. "I just wanted to tell you something," she said. She forced herself to meet Amanda's eyes. "Because I feel bad about Kyrian."

Amanda crossed the few steps between them and took her hands. "Maya, he understands," she said. "There's nothing for you to feel bad about."

"He looks like Jay," Maya said bluntly. "Just like Jay."

Amanda sucked in a breath. "Oh," she whispered, unable to think of any better reply than that.

Maya closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead. "I know it's irrational," she said. "It's not fair to your husband. The hair—I don't think I'll ever look at a blond man the same way again. But if Jay had green eyes…" She shuddered. "Tell your sister to be careful when she's out looking for that lost twin brother. She might get Jay instead."

"That close, huh?"

Maya nodded miserably. "That close," she echoed.

The microwave timer buzzed and they both jumped. Maya laughed though it was clearly an effort. "Scary appliances you have here," she said.

It was a lame joke but it broke the tension. Amanda laughed with her and turned to get Maya's breakfast. "Are you going to tell him?" Maya asked.

Amanda placed the plate on the bar in front of her and nodded at the door to the den. It was open just a crack. "He's got incredible hearing. He would never eavesdrop, don't get me wrong, but he might have heard you. Would that be bad?"

Maya shook her head. "I wanted you to tell him," she said. "I didn't want him to think I didn't like him personally."

"Note to self," came Kyrian's deep voice from the den. "If I ever find my long-lost twin, haul him out back and kick his ass."

Maya jumped, then burst out laughing. "Vetoed," she called back. "Me first—I have a trophy to collect. Then I think Nick has next go at him. You can have what's left."

Kyrian's laughter drifted out to them. Amanda smiled. "I, um, told him about that particular trophy. Hope that was all right."

Maya laughed again. "Oh, no problem. Just so long as there's no male brotherhood, must-defend-the-nads thing that goes along with it."

Kyrian stuck his head out the door. "Maya, bastards like that shouldn't breed," he said. "Removing him from the gene pool is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Those are some nads I'd never dream of defending."

She shook her head, rolling her eyes and stabbing a sausage. Amanda watched her chop the link up and cracked up laughing. "My, my, my, we _are_ feeling feisty this morning," she teased, dropping Kyrian a quick wink over Maya's head before he disappeared back into the den.

Kyrian breathed a sigh of relief as he turned to Acheron who stood there listening to every word. "Well, that's somewhat better at least," he murmured to his former boss. "We now have a description—good. It's me with different eyes—bad."

Ash sighed and rubbed his forehead. "I don't want to know a damned thing about it. I think I'm going to stand by my original plan—you do whatever you want and leave me the hell out of it. I don't know what Archon's intentions are and I'm not guessing."

Kyrian rolled his eyes and groaned. "Great, let the mortal underling play with a god's wrath," he said. "And to think I made you godfather to Marissa."

Ash shot him a glare. "Does the phrase _thin ice_ mean anything to you?"

But as if her name had woken her, Marissa's cries suddenly erupted from the baby monitor Kyrian had carried into the den with the paper. He reached over and shut it off at once, seeing Ash instantly go pale, and hurried upstairs to the nursery without another word. Damn, but he wondered what it was about crying babies that freaked Ash out, because he knew for a fact that Acheron both liked and knew how to care for kids. Drool and diapers didn't phase him in the least. He had adored Marissa from the instant of her birth no matter what foul stuff came out of her.

It was only when the tears started up that he ran for the exits.

Amanda watched Maya's fingers clench on her fork as Marissa cried and wondered the same thing about Maya. "You okay?" she asked.

Maya shook herself as if coming out of a trance. "Yes, fine," she said, still looking a little distracted. Her free hand went to rest over her flat stomach in a protective gesture that Amanda didn't miss. But Kyrian was fast and Marissa quickly quieted.

Maya looked around in the abrupt silence. "Where's Nick?" she asked, noticing his absence for the first time.

"He's in college, you know," Amanda reminded her gently. "He's in classes, probably driving his professors nuts." She checked her watch. "He'll have an hour or so free for lunch at eleven if you want to call him."

"I think I will," Maya said. "I really appreciate you letting me borrow your things, but I want him to go by my place and get some clothes of my own." She pushed her plate away, her appetite suddenly fleeing at the thought of what her hotel room must still look like after Jay's surprise visit.

Amanda pushed it right back. "Eat," she commanded. "Your baby needs it and so do you."

Maya picked her fork back up, forcing the memories away. It was easier to do that today. Somehow they'd lost their sharp focus, the jagged edge dulled. "Yes, _mon capitain_," she said with a ghost of a smile.

Amanda patted her on the back. "It'll get easier," she said, thinking of the horror of her ordeal with Desiderius, watching Kyrian die right in front of her and then fight for his life against the demigod Daimon. "Trust me on this. It's the voice of experience here. You're safe, Maya, and soon you'll really start to feel safe again."

Maya nodded, eating in silence. When she'd finished Amanda took her plate. "Now that you're up and on your feet," she said, "care for the grand tour? You have the run of the house except for the north wing; we have that closed for some renovations and I'm afraid the fumes and such wouldn't be good for the baby, but the rest of the place is yours to roam at will."

"Sure," Maya agreed, standing and taking her plate to the sink. It felt so good to move without pain again. _Voodoo?_ a little voice in the back of her mind whispered doubtfully, but she shushed it at once. It was as good an explanation as any for something that should have been completely impossible and she wasn't one to question such an unexpected and wonderful gift.


	7. Chapter 7

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Ash watched her from the shadows of the den as she ate and then when Amanda led her from the kitchen for the tour. With Kyrian out of the room, he didn't have to worry what the former Hunter would think of his attention, which was good because Ash didn't want to answer any questions. He'd known the instant she awakened and had felt her come downstairs without even looking at her, but even so something in him was _compelled _to look. He couldn't help it, and now that Kyrian was upstairs tending his daughter, Ash didn't have to try.

His first thought was that she moved like a cat, a graceful jungle predator. Every movement was lithe and nimble and obviously pain free. Yes,Ash thought as he watched her walk, V'Edrix had done his healing well. Her long legs and slender arms flowed like poetry when she walked. For the first time Ash was able to really see what she looked like without the cuts and swollen bruises that had almost completely obscured her face.

And he wasn't surprised at all to find that Nick's sister was absolutely lovely. The gods had never been equal-opportunity. Being the pinnacles of physical perfection and beauty themselves, when dealing with mortals they tended to choose the most exquisite specimens available. Homely humans need not apply.

Maya was no exception. Taller even than Amanda, slender as a willow and possessing an effortless grace that lingered in her every move, she filled out her borrowed clothing with lush womanly curves. Her dark hair, a rich deep brown like some highly polished exotic wood, hid intriguing highlights of gold and red and flowed unbound almost to her waist in soft waves. She'd never looked directly at the den but her amber eyes had been remarkable even when surrounded by deep bruises. Ash had no doubt they'd be even more beautiful now without the lingering pain clouding their depths.

The women passed by the den and he stepped further into the shadows, catching just a glimpse of her face as Maya passed within feet of the door. Ash tried to appreciate her with the same clinical detachment she'd shown him, but by Apollymi, it was difficult. She was absolutely exquisite. Delicate brows arched over those amber eyes, high cheekbones drawing his gaze down to startlingly lush lips and a fine jaw that managed to be both strong and utterly feminine at the same time. And she had a long, sweet, smooth throat that seemed created to tempt the male mouth. Gods, he'd always loved a woman's neck, even before he'd been reborn with fangs.

Everything about her woke his powerful male protective instincts along with an astonishing surge of desire. He ached to touch, to taste, to take. He could hardly believe she was related to Nick. It amazed him that someone so gorgeous could be the sister of someone so annoying.

And the thought of an Apollite touching her, daring to use the superhuman powers gifted to that race to inflict damage that severe on such a woman, to beat her until she'd been completely unrecognizable, made Acheron want to tear something to shreds with his bare hands. Yes, Archon had chosen his vessel well. No man, mortal or not, could see Maya in distress and not rush to her aid.

He waited until Amanda and Maya had vanished around the corner before leaving the den, making a mental note to commend Amanda on her quick thinking this morning. That voodoo story, she must have been convincing to sell that to Maya, but she'd apparently swallowed it. And telling Maya that Ash's wing of the house was closed off for remodeling was nothing short of genius. The woman was brilliant and she'd pulled his rear out of the fire without even knowing it.

He could already tell that Archon's decree would be hard as hell to keep.

#&#

Nick came in late that night, carrying two suitcases and wearing a scowl that could have stopped clocks. Maya greeted him with a kiss on the cheek as he stomped into the living room. "Thanks, Nick," she said, trying to take one of the bags from him.

He refused to let go. "Did you even bother to call the cops, Maya?" he demanded without preamble.

Maya sighed. "This after all the times you've ranted and raved that you wanted to find him first and rip his heart out?" she replied dryly. "No, Nick, I was a little busy at the time and my cell phone was back in the apartment on the charger. Should I have gone back in for it?"

Kyrian looked up at the exchange of sarcasm. Yes, Maya was definitely Nick's sister. But the look on his former Squire's face was three parts fury and two parts nausea and he knew that seeing what had to have been the scene of Maya's beating had disturbed Nick deeply. "Nick, want me to get those for you?" he offered quietly.

"Forget the damn suitcases!" Nick shouted, dropping them and grabbing Maya into a rough hug. He held her hard and Maya felt him shaking. "It looks like someone was murdered in there," he growled at last.

Maya squeezed him back. "Well, no one was," she replied softly. "Okay? I'm sorry, Nick. I didn't think before I asked you to go. I should have—"

"If you say something stupid like you should've cleaned up before I went I'll beat you myself," Nick said in mock-threat, still hugging his sister.

"Try it," Maya laughed, pulling back. "You forget what I do for a living, bro."

Amanda raised an eyebrow. "Okay, now you've got me interested," she said. "Give. What do you do for a living?"

Maya grinned impishly at her as she went back to the armchair and picked her book back up. "I'm a martial arts instructor. Third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do, third don in karate, various other belts in a handful of other schools and more than a passing acquaintance with Krav Maga." Then her smile became rueful. "Just goes to show you, anyone can get their ass kicked if they're whacked over the back of the head with a metal pipe out of the blue. Maybe I should've saved time and just gotten a big dog instead…"

Kyrian whistled low. "That's some serious training you've got," he said. After that morning he'd cautiously attempted sticking around a little when Maya came into a room, and to his great relief she truly appeared less tense around him even though she did tend to stay on the other side of the room. "That must have taken years of work."

"Well, my mother started me in self-defense classes when I was six," Maya said. "So I've been at it for a little over twenty years now. I've had time."

"Remind me not to smart off to you."

Her eyes twinkled topaz in the combination of firelight and scattered candles. Kyrian still didn't use artificial lights despite the fact that they no longer hurt his eyes—he just didn't like them. Two thousand years of habit was hard to break. "If I haven't maimed Nick yet, you can guess you're pretty safe," Maya pointed out.

Amanda shook her head. "He's family, though," she laughed. "You'd have guilt if you creamed him, right?"

Nick snorted. "I'm half family," he teased, ruffling Maya's hair as he passed by and flipped on the computer. "She'd only feel half guilty."

"So he's only half nice," Maya shot back. "He's hoping I'll leave half his body working that way."

"Har har," Nick said, sitting down and starting to type as Kyrian and Amanda laughed.

"Oh, it's great to hear you get some back, Nick, my boy," Amanda teased. She leaned against Kyrian and picked up her own book. "He torments us with that attitude, you know."

"Must be genetic," Maya replied. "I only met Nick about five years ago and my smart mouth was already well established, so I can't blame him for that."

Quiet fell as they all went back to their individual tasks. Maya actually started to feel safe and relaxed for the first time in weeks. It was such a normal scene, people unwinding in the evening after a long day, Nick working on his homework while Amanda and Kyrian snuggled on the couch, Amanda reading a romance novel that looked fairly interesting. Kyrian was the exception, holding a book that looked absolutely ancient. Whatever language the title on the spine was written in definitely wasn't English, and he flipped the pages from back to front. Despite that, the sense of normalcy, of sane routine daily life, persisted.

She pretended to read her own book and instead just soaked up the atmosphere. As long as she either avoided looking at Kyrian altogether or made sure she looked carefully at him when her eyes did touch him, she didn't feel that sickening swoop of fear at his presence. She was overwhelmingly glad. He'd been a wonderful sport about it but no one liked being treated like the plague, and she was determined to get over it. It wasn't the poor man's fault that Jay happened to be tall, blond and gorgeous too.

Thank God Amanda had apparently known what she was talking about that morning when she'd promised the horror would fade. Maya closed her eyes and savored the peace.

Several minutes later a soft thud jolted Nick from his train of thought and he looked up from the monitor with a start. Maya was still curled up in the oversized armchair like a cat, but her head rested lightly against the back of the chair, her hand having slipped gently down over the armrest. Her eyes were closed, her lips slightly parted, and her breathing was slow and regular.

Her book lay on the floor below her relaxed hand where it had fallen.

Kyrian smiled slightly at Amanda. "Well I'll be damned," he whispered. "She's asleep." Even though he was sitting less than ten feet away, she'd let her guard down completely. It made him feel exponentially better.

Amanda kissed him gently, completely understanding. "I told you she'd get over it," she whispered back. Only she knew just how unfounded Maya's fear of Kyrian had been, for even though he'd sold his soul for Vengeance on a woman after she'd dealt him the ultimate betrayal, even then Kyrian hadn't been able to make himself harm her. It just wasn't in him.

Nick stood and stretched his stiff muscles before gently lifting his sister to carry her up to bed. Amanda followed him to help Maya out of her jeans when they arrived, leaving Kyrian alone in the quiet room.

Ash joined him a minute later. "Good sign," he said, obviously knowing all that transpired in the house whether he'd been present or not. And knowing the kind of power the ancient warrior commanded, Kyrian wouldn't have bet much that Acheron hadn't been standing in a corner the entire time, unmarked by any of them. No one was completely sure just what Acheron was capable of, only that he was one seriously powerful, spooky man.

But Kyrian only nodded. "Indeed," he said. "It makes it hard to guard someone when they're afraid of you."

Ash's mouth twisted wryly. "Tell me about it."

Kyrian grinned a little. "Well, you do dress like a punk, you know," he couldn't resist teasing. "Ever think that might have anything to do with it, buddy?"

Ash shrugged. "You think it'd make a difference if I cut my hair and wore a suit?" he asked, taking Maya's chair and picking up the book she'd dropped. "Hmm, _Advanced Judo Techniques,_" he read the title absently. "Peaceful bedtime reading."

Kyrian's grin expanded at the thought of Ash trying to fit the nine-to-five mold. Now there was a mental image he just couldn't get his brain around. "So what's on your mind?" he asked, not fooled by Acheron's nonchalant manner.

"My crystal ball tells me you're going to suggest an outing for tomorrow night," Ash said, shuttering his eyes and imitating the spooky intonations of an Oracle.

"Oh, am I?" Kyrian replied. "And where am I going?"

"You're going to Sanctuary," Ash said. "And you're taking Maya with you, and doing everything you can short of four-point restraints to leave Nick behind."

Kyrian's eyebrows rose. "I know I have a good reason for this," he said sagely. "Because my boss told me less than twenty-four hours ago that keeping Maya in the house, away from all possible sources of danger, was an excellent idea. And I'm sure that same boss knows Nick won't exactly _sit_ and_ stay_ without question."

Ash sighed. "We need to get all the Hunters, both Dark and Were, on board protecting her," he said, dropping the Oracle act. "Now, we _could_ march them through the living room one by one to let them take a good look at her so they know who they're guarding, freaking her out and completely violating Archon's decree, or we could take her to a place where they won't exactly stand out and let them get their glance at her there."

"Okay, point conceded," Kyrian said. "Now what about Nick? He can't go because?"

"Because he's still obsessed with the ex-boyfriend and will likely pitch a fit at taking her into a public place," Acheron said tiredly. "I'm perfectly willing to let him hang onto that fixation if it keeps him away from the bigger issues we're dealing with. But what do you think he'll do if he sees Talon and Valerius come around to eyeball his sister, followed up by the Peltiers and all the Strati that I can contact on short notice? He's annoying but not stupid, despite all evidence to the contrary. He'll figure out that something else is up. He can't come."

Kyrian nodded again. As always, Acheron was right. Then he sighed. "I don't suppose you have any suggestions on how to accomplish leaving him home like a good little boy," he said.

Acheron smiled. "All I could think of was a good hard case of food-poisoning, but hey, that might be a personal prejudice on my part," he replied. Kyrian laughed and shook his head, but at that moment Nick returned and the Atlantean stood. "And there's my exit cue," he said. "People to do, things to kill. Later."

Nick watched him walk out and shook his head. "So now I'm an exit cue," he said irritably. "I feel so loved." He returned to his homework, typing away within seconds.

"It could be worse," Kyrian said, thinking of Ash's poisoning suggestion. Well, if no other solution presented itself, it was always good to have a back-up plan.


	8. Chapter 8

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Nick groaned miserably.

Maya wrung out the washcloth and laid it on Nick's pale, sweaty forehead. "You sure you'll be all right?" she asked yet again, frowning in concern.

Nick grimaced but nodded. "Darned left-over gumbo," he grumbled. "I should know better. Yes, I'll be fine, sis, just go away, will you? I hate for someone to see me puke almost as much as I hate to puke."

Kyrian was positive he didn't smile or betray any expression but concern for the suddenly sick Squire as they waited in the hall for Maya, but Amanda was giving him _that_ look. "What?" he asked. Damn, but the woman could read him like a book.

She just shook her head. "That was really, really low," she murmured for his ears only. "I could have come up with something, you know, and it wouldn't have been so… messy. Are you ever going to tell me what's really going on here so I can help you out?"

Kyrian kissed her lightly. "As soon as I can, love," he promised, wondering if it was promise he'd be able to keep. Even if Acheron did give him permission to tell Amanda everything, Kyrian didn't intend to ever put the look of blind, terrified panic back in his wife's eyes that he'd seen the night she'd touched the unborn god's aura. No, Amanda was on full alert right now with the information she already had. It was good enough for him.

Maya joined them in the hall, closing Nick's door gently behind him. "I hate leaving him like this," she said. "Are you sure—"

Amanda laced her fingers through Kyrian's and gave him a squeeze that told him he'd owe her for this later. "Of course we are," she said with the faintest of compulsions buried in her gentle tone. "Nick hates for anyone to see him when he's sick. He'll actually feel better without us in the house."

Maya nodded slowly and sighed. "All right," she said, giving in to Amanda's hidden suggestion. She paused at her room only to grab her tailored brown leather duster before following them down the stairs—still keeping a firm grip on the banister as she descended, but otherwise showing no outward signs of her recent ordeal.

Acheron was already there when they arrived. He leaned against the back wall, slowly nursing a beer, his height making it easy to keep an eye on the entrance. Papa Peltier was as good as his word and Kyrian guided the women through a line that included almost every one of his sons and just about all the shape-shifting employees of the club too. When they emerged into the club proper, heads turned as if pulled magnetically. Women were drawn instantly to Kyrian's blond gorgeousness and men stared avidly at Amanda and especially at Maya.

Ash was no exception. By the gods, she was breathtaking tonight. Her topaz silk blouse was a shimmering spot of color in the mostly black-clad crowd, the shade exactly matching her incredible eyes. Tight jeans lovingly hugged her hips and those long legs, ending in simple low-heeled boots that perfectly matched her natural brown duster. Her long hair was swept back in an elegant twist that should have looked out of place among all the bikers and goth chicks but didn't. She stood at ease as Kyrian ordered for them, her back to the bar, thumbs hooked lightly in the pockets of her jeans, and Ash could feel the simple readiness that vibrated from her despite her relaxed stance.

Here was a fighter who had been taken off-guard once by a nasty trick and who did not intend to let it happen again, but here also was a ravishing young woman out to have a good time. The combination was incredibly fascinating.

And Ash could see at once that he was not the only one to feel the draw. Maya gently deflected first one, then two, then a handful of admirers as the bartender handed Kyrian a pair of beers for himself and Amanda, and passed Maya something in a tall glass. Kyrian said something to her and she laughed, shaking her head before she followed the huge Greek ex-general as he plowed a path for them through the crowd closer to the stage.

Maya couldn't believe the sheer testosterone flowing through this place. She leaned closer to Amanda so she could be heard over the loud music and louder conversation. "Is there some kind of male model convention in town or something?" she asked, glancing over the wide variety of hot men in the huge crowd.

Amanda laughed. "It's always like this," she assured her. "This place is the single woman's best friend. And the rules of the house are strictly enforced—no woman is bothered unless she wants to be bothered. I used to come here by myself all the time."

Kyrian frowned at this information. "Safe in here, I'll give you that," he muttered just loud enough for Maya to catch the words. "But on the streets of New Orleans anything can happen… crazy woman I married…" Maya laughed again and he looked up a bit sheepishly. "Well, it's true!" he protested.

Kyrian looked around carefully after using a little mental _push_ to persuade a group of giggling college-age girls to abandon their choice table along the wall near the stage and settling Amanda and Maya there with their drinks. He found Valerius at once. The Roman stuck out like a sore thumb with his yuppie clothes and cold, untouchable attitude. Kyrian fought down the urge to slay him on the spot—only because there was something more important than revenge to accomplish tonight—and arched an eyebrow disdainfully at the man whose grandfather had tortured and crucified him two thousand years ago. Valerius returned a cool nod to indicate he'd seen Maya and would recognize her in the future if necessary before turning and making straight for the door.

Even if being in the company of other Dark-Hunters hadn't weakened his powers, Valerius wouldn't have stuck around. He hated Kyrian almost as much as Kyrian hated him, and had shown nothing but complete disdain for Talon since first setting eyes on his torque and Celtic tribal tattoos. Valerius had no use for anyone not directly descended from the Roman elite like himself and didn't care who knew it. It was as though the Roman took a poisonous cloud with him when he left.

Talon was a bit harder to spot. Kyrian searched the dance floor first, knowing the Celt had a weakness for women that he was forever indulging, but to no avail. The crowd around the bar was impenetrable. Kyrian kept looking around, listening to Amanda and Maya talk and absently replying when necessary.

A hand clapped on his shoulder. "Hey, Kyrian, it's been a while!"

Kyrian turned at the familiar voice. How strange it was to hear that voice speaking friendly, normal words instead of growling and howling with the delight of slaying Daimons, but hey, there was a first time for everything. "Hey, Vane," he greeted the Katagari warrior, a true wolf in disguise—in man's clothing instead of sheep's. "You got the rest of your gang with you tonight?"

Vane raised an eyebrow. Kyrian grinned. They both knew the place was crawling with wolves from his pack. Acting like nothing was going on could lead to some insanely stupid conversation, but Vane went with it. "They're around," he said vaguely. Then Vane glanced down at Amanda. "Hey, Mandy. Heard your little one looks like you instead of him, thank the gods," he laughed.

Amanda smiled back. "It's a relief, all right," she teased, squeezing Kyrian's hand. She nodded at Maya. "Vane, this is Maya, Nick's sister. Maya, meet Vane, one of the things that goes bump in the night."

Maya laughed and shook Vane's hand. "With friends like these," she said lightly.

"More of a thorn in the paw instead," Vane said. He swept a slow, appreciative glance over her and didn't release her hand. "But I'm glad now that I didn't eat your brother when I had the chance—I have to say, you look much tastier."

Maya shook her head, laughing again, not quiet sure what to make of Vane. "I don't know if I should say thanks to that or not," she admitted.

Vane gave her a grin that said he knew exactly what she was thinking. "Gotta run, guys. Maya, good to meet you." He lifted her hand and kissed it in a manner that would have been charming and courtly had she not been strangely certain that he'd sniffed her skin as he did so.

She watched him walk off, cutting through the crowd with an easy lope. "That is one seriously weird individual," she muttered to Amanda.

Amanda grinned, eyes twinkling. "You have no idea."

But when Maya turned to look back up at the stage, Amanda glanced at her husband with a little frown. He wasn't telling her something, and damn it, she didn't like it. First off Kyrian had suggested making this trip to Sanctuary tonight. That alone had struck her as odd after what had happened the night before, but now he was introducing Maya to the leader of the wolf Strati, and Vane had definitely made a note of her scent before leaving.

But when Talon walked up a moment later with his blond hair concealed by a red bandana that complemented the red-painted Celtic symbols covering his leather jacket Amanda knew that none of this was coincidence. Women drooled over Talon's hair and he covered it for no one.

Unless someone had dropped a hint that he would be meeting a woman who had no use whatsoever for blond men.

Kyrian went through the introductions and Talon sat down in one of the vacant chairs, making small talk with Amanda and Maya, but Kyrian still stood. Amanda's eyes narrowed. He stood there as if he were marking their location so they could be more easily found.

Okay, whatever was going on, it was big. Way bigger than some whacked-out stalker ex-boyfriend, bigger than an unborn baby with powers she couldn't even imagine. Kyrian wouldn't dare try to call out Vane and his clan of Were-Hunters even if Vane would respond to his summons and Kyrian sure as hell wouldn't directly disobey Acheron by arranging for Talon to come and meet Maya. Amanda had thought it was strange that Papa Peltier and almost every single one of his sons had met them personally when they'd arrived, but now it just seemed to fit with everything else. And only one explanation made sense.

Acheron must have called out a major alert on Maya. He was putting every branch of the Hunters on notice to watch and guard her. No wonder Nick had been forcefully left behind—the poor man would have had a heart attack if he'd seen the number of lethal warriors surrounding his sister right now! This biker bar was perhaps the only place on Earth where so many ancient warriors could gather and still manage to look inconspicuous. Amanda tried to continue to act normal but she felt like shaking Kyrian until his teeth chattered. How _dare_ he not tell her about this!

Talon must have seen the realization and the anger pass over her face because he rose and asked Maya to dance, and Maya surprised Amanda by accepting. She was grateful. She needed the time to compose herself—and treat her husband to a few choice words.

But Maya froze when she got to her feet and glanced at the dance floor. She was tall for a woman and in her boots stood an easy six feet, and from the slight elevation of their tables they could see every couple gyrating on the floor. "Kyrian," she said sharply.

"What?" he answered, leaning forward.

Maya spared him only a tiny glance. "Just checking," she growled. Kyrian frowned at her odd reply but before he could say another word, she'd disappeared into the thronging mass of people with a suddenness that shocked them all.

"Damn it," Kyrian and Talon snarled simultaneously and Amanda jumped to her feet to run after them as they chased her, the three of them coming to the same conclusion at the same moment. There was only one reason that she would check where Kyrian was, and that was if she'd seen someone who resembled him closely enough to be his twin.

Acheron saw Maya twist and swerve through the masses filling the crowded club with incredible speed, lithe as a leopard in pursuit of prey. A sharp look located the prey—an Apollite, dancing oblivious to the danger, close enough in resemblance to Kyrian to be his twin. Ash looked instantly for the guards he'd placed on Maya and found Kyrian and Talon chasing after her, pushing through the crowd with a great deal less speed or grace than she displayed and almost half the length of the club away. None of the Katagari were even close. He cursed the lot of them and slammed his beer bottle down on the bar before striding to head Maya off himself, using an unsubtle bolt of mind control to move anyone who got in his way.

He still didn't get there in time to intercept her. Maya halted behind the tall, blond Apollite on the dance floor and tapped his shoulder as though cutting in. When he spun around, angry at the interruption, he received a boot full in the face with all the force her fury and years of martial arts training could lend her. Jay crashed to the floor, then spat a curse and leapt at her, enraged.

After that it was utter madness. Dancers scattered as Maya and the blond fought with a skill and ferocity rarely seen outside of Jackie Chan movies. Despite his frenzy to reach her Ash couldn't help but be impressed at Maya's fighting skills as she took on the Apollite—an _Apollite!_—six inches taller than her and at least twice her weight, yet still managed not only to block his attacks but land vicious blows of her own. Even with his heightened reflexes and greater strength, it was clear that Jay was outmatched. Maya was a whirling dervish of fists and feet and either superior skill or unmitigated rage was giving her an undoubted edge.

And then Ash, Talon and Kyrian arrived simultaneously. Kyrian and Talon tackled the Apollite while Ash grabbed Maya around the waist from behind and dragged her away. She elbowed him hard in the stomach and used several moves that would have broken his grip were she being held by anyone but him. And even he was having trouble holding her. "Enough!" he roared as she fought him, his voice cutting through the chaos and finally seeming to reach her. "It's over, desist!"

Maya stopped her useless struggles but she remained rigid with fury in the confinement of his arms. "Get off me," she demanded. "Get off right now, or by God I'll dance with you too."

The threat sent a strange thrill through his entire body.

Before Ash could reply, Kyrian went flying back and the Apollite managed to get an arm free. Ash saw a glint of metal and reacted without thinking, turning his back to the danger—something he _never _did—and shielding Maya with his body a bare instant before the gunshot echoed through the club.

The bullet tore into his shoulder but didn't pass through. "Time to blow this joint," he growled, not bothering to turn back to find out what was happening to the infamous Jay. He should be engulfed in Were-Hunters by now as the Peltiers exacted their revenge for the offense of bringing a weapon into their club. He simply lifted Maya around the waist, keeping his body between hers and the gun at all times, and dashed through the panicked bodies toward the back exit. He ignored her renewed struggles just as he ignored the feel of her body pressed against his own. He didn't have time to appreciate it right now.

Healing the gunshot wound would likewise take time and effort he couldn't spare, but Ash had already cut off the bleeding with a thought. The last thing he needed was to inject the scent of blood into the adrenaline-crazed atmosphere, further maddening the Were-Hunters.

Only when they were out in the alley beside his motorcycle did Ash let her go. Maya whirled to glare at him and found herself glaring right at his collarbone. Her eyes traveled slowly up, up, until she stared him straight in the face, his eyes shielded as always by wrap-around sunglasses.

Her eyebrows shot up. "Well, well, well, if it isn't Doogie Howser," she said, blinking in surprise. She seemed to have forgotten her promise of violent retribution for his interference in her shock at seeing him. "You know, I was pretty certain I'd dreamed you."

Acheron was completely taken off-guard. With so much happening so fast he hadn't placed a fear-dampening spell on her, but Maya just stood there, hands on her hips, staring up at him without a trace of alarm. Staring at him boldly, curiously, and seemingly totally unaware of the sexual vibes he had never been able to help exuding.

Oddly enough, he found that last fact incredibly galling. No woman should be able to stand there looking that good, all shimmering topaz fire and sex and danger, and not be aware of him as a man.

A man who was suddenly realizing that he wanted far more than just her safety.


	9. Chapter 9

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

He asked the first thing that came across his mind to distract himself from that dangerous epiphany. "What is that horrendous name you keep calling me?"

Maya laughed. The sultry, erotic sound did nothing to help him clear his mind. "Might have been before your time," she said as though to herself. Ash raised an eyebrow at that but didn't bother to inform her that nothing currently on Earth was before _his_ time—no need to incite a panic that didn't seem imminent by giving out that particular information. "It was a television show years ago about this kid who graduated medical school and became a doctor at about fourteen years old. You say you're a doctor? I say you're Doogie Howser," Maya explained with a little grin. Then she peered closely up at him. "I'm tempted to pinch myself—or you. You're really not a figment of my imagination, are you?"

Acheron shook his head. Even without a hefty dose of magic, she was acting strangely. "Are you hurt?" he asked, trying not to think of ways to encourage her to pinch him. Places he'd like to return the favor on that lovely body of hers.

She snorted. "Please. That clumsy moron in there never could land a punch on me in a fair fight. Hence the lead pipe to the head the other night—the only chance he's ever had to kick my butt."

His eyebrows rose. The Apollite had been anything but clumsy. "You walked up and kicked him in the face, and that's a fair fight?"

One corner of her mouth rose in a quirky grin that was somehow immensely endearing. A sizzle went down his spine as his entire body seemed to draw a fine focus on her lips curved in that little smile. "No, Doogie, that was a taste of his own slimy, dirty-fighting medicine."

"Acheron or Ash, please," he said, wincing at the nickname. If Vane or Talon ever heard that he'd never hear the end of it, and he had no urge to spend the next few centuries being called by that god-awful moniker. "And for future reference, when sitting with a couple of big guys, why not let them go after the scum who hurt you? You're in a rather delicate condition for a barroom brawl, you know."

Her smile flashed to a scowl in the blink of an eye. "_For_ _future reference_, Acheron or Ash," she growled, poking her finger in the middle of his chest as she mocked him with his exact words, "I haven't spent years learning how to defend myself just to hide behind some _big guys_ when it's time to do it. Like I said, Jay's never been able to touch me without sneaking up on me and knocking me half-senseless first. I do _not_ need some lecture on how the little woman in a delicate condition needs to sit back knitting booties, got it? I knew exactly what I was doing!"

By the gods, not only was she not terrified of him, she wasn't the least bit intimidated by him either! Her cheeks flushed with anger and her amber eyes flashing sparks might just have been the sexiest thing Acheron had ever seen. Breathing fast through parted lips, full breasts straining gently against her silk blouse, she glared up at him and Ash had the urge to keep her in a high passion to appreciate the picture she created at his leisure and at much greater length. Just the contact of her fingertip against his chest was hot as a brand.

He wondered if she would taste as fiery…

He blinked the strange thought away and crossed his arms over his chest, both relieved and bereft when she drew her hand back. _Focus,_ he told himself sternly. Gods, what was going on with him? "You think you can take down any man who challenges you, is that it?" he asked. He'd admired her spirit before and confidence was a good thing, but bravado got people killed.

She threw her hands in the air and shook her head in exasperation. "I am not talking about every man under the sun, you know. Just one individual moron whose ass I was kicking quite nicely, if you'll remember. I know how to pick my battles, thank you very much."

"And the gun?" Ash pressed.

Maya paled visibly. "He—that was a _gun?_" she echoed in disbelief. "I thought that was a car back-firing! But the bouncers at the door searched everyone on the way in—he shouldn't have had any weapons of any kind!"

Acheron nodded, reassured that Maya had sized up the fight as carefully as she'd claimed. It was just the kind of thing he had to drill into the heads of new Dark-Hunters over and over—know your enemy, choose your battlefield. She'd done it. But Murphy's Law always had the last word. "He must have smuggled it in," Ash said.

"Why does that even surprise me?" Maya sighed then rubbed her forehead, her anger evaporating. "Okay, I guess I owe you some thanks then."

He shook his head, dismissing the entire incident just like that. He didn't want her gratitude, he wanted… "Over and done with," he said before he could complete that thought. Part of him mourned the passing of her indignation. It was a tired cliché, but she truly was beautiful when she was angry. He also didn't doubt that telling her so would make her furious again, but he wanted a different kind of fire to light those glorious eyes. Something in him wanted it with a hunger that refused to be denied.

He _would_ have it.

"Come on, I'll take you back to Kyrian and Amanda's place," he said. "I think the party's pretty much over here tonight."

Maya seemed to notice the motorcycle for the first time when he turned and walked over to it. One delicate eyebrow rose. "You've probably noticed this," she said slowly as Acheron swung one long leg over the bike and kick-started it, "but there's nowhere for a passenger to sit behind you on that. You planning on dragging me by my hair?"

He'd specified a single seat when he'd ordered the customized bike. No one had ever ridden behind him and no one ever would. Ash smiled at her and leaned back, patting the seat in front of him. It was a beautiful thing when necessity so perfectly harmonized with his desires. "Plenty of room for you to ride right here," he said, his voice a low velvet dare.

Maya's other eyebrow joined the first. For the first time she gave him a look that clearly stated that she felt the sexual vibes that surrounded him. Acheron could have grinned at the irony. He'd had to practically proposition her to get her to look at him the way every other female did within two seconds of meeting him—truth be told, the way he was looking at _her_ right this second from behind the cover of his sunglasses.

Hot. Hungry. Electric.

And damned if he wouldn't have kept pushing her if this hadn't worked. Those shimmering eyes of hers had lit something dangerous in him that hadn't been stirred in centuries. He wondered if she'd take the bait he offered.

Something of his thoughts must have shown on his face because her eyes narrowed as if he'd laughed aloud at her hesitation. "Does this mean I get to drive, too?" she asked sweetly, gathering her long coat out of the way and smoothly straddling the motorcycle in front of him, clearly seeing the challenge and not backing down.

"Sorry, I'm a bit of a control freak there," Ash replied with a grin. This was one ride he was going to enjoy.

And then she sat back against him, her soft derriere settling against his groin and her upswept hair tickling his chin, and in the space of a single pounding heartbeat every last thought in Acheron's brain died a sudden and very pleasant death.

Oh, gods, but she fit perfectly against him! Her body nestled against the protection of his broad chest as if she'd been created for it. The neckline of her blouse presented him with a view the gods themselves would have envied when he gave in to the urge to glance down, her breasts full and the valley between them dark and fascinating. Just the barest hint of dark gold lace teased his vision, cupping that tempting softness. He caught the handlebars in a crushing grip and fought the compulsion to touch her, to press his mouth to her vulnerable throat exposed by the upsweep of her hair. That gorgeous neck was even more tempting from where he now sat and he wondered if he'd manage to get her home without giving in to the urge to sample it. Her scent, sweet and mysterious and utterly feminine, surrounded him and made his head swim. He closed his eyes and took a slow breath, striving for calm and finding only molten desire. "Hold on," he told her, surprised to hear his voice sounded almost normal when inside he was so unexpectedly going up in flames.

Her hands hovered hesitantly for a moment, building his anticipation to a fever pitch before they settled on his thighs, obviously finding nothing else to hold on to. "I'm ready to ride," she replied.

He ground his teeth at the mental image of a very different kind of riding that swamped him and revved the engine. _He_ wanted to surge with power between her thighs instead of the cycle… _sweet heaven, was he mad? She belonged to the god! He had to get control of his thoughts!_ Not trusting himself to say another word, he pushed off and roared off down the alley.

The burst of speed had been a mistake, but a glorious one. It pressed her even more fully against him and the single-rider seat had already been a tight fit. The vibrations of the engine added to the sweet feel of her hands gripping his thighs and the heat of her hips pressing against him combined for an erotic torture ride he never wanted to end. He took a turn faster than was wise just to feel her cling to him, hardening even more when her hands slipped to the sides of his thighs to hold on better.

But even allowing himself to choose the longest possible route, taking the curves with enough speed to make her slide her hands all the way around his legs to hold on, he couldn't make it last forever. At last they pulled up in front of the heavy steel gates Kyrian had already replaced after Maya had broken them down.

His breathing was slightly ragged as he steered through the gates and up the drive, and it had nothing to do with the speed and everything to do with his passenger. Ash hit the button to open the garage and drove slowly inside with a greater reluctance than he'd ever felt before. Normally this felt like coming home, as close as he'd ever had to that luxury, but tonight he hated to park the bike and end this closeness. It was the worst kind of insanity, but he wanted to keep Maya just like this for at least the next century, preferably without clothing. He hadn't kissed her, hadn't touched her, but the desire he felt for her seared him to the core of his being.

He killed the engine and put down the kickstand but didn't get off the bike or drop his hands from the handlebars, effectively trapping her there in front of him. But Maya didn't protest or move. He knew she had to be aware of his erection pressing against her but she hadn't shifted away from him when he'd slowed on the driveway. He noticed for the first time that her breath came just as fast as his own. The realization made his pulse leap. Before he could think better of it, he gave in to the overpowering urge to taste her, to touch her, that roared through him with such force it drowned out every single reason he should just let her go.

Maya gasped as Acheron's mouth touched the side of her throat. Her hands tightened on his thighs. He traced the line of her pulse with his tongue before scraping his teeth erotically over the frantic beat there. Her head fell to the side, giving him all the access he could want, and Acheron hardened almost to the point of pain with wanting her. Gods, for once in his life he actually _wished_ she'd been consumed with lust at her first sight of him, because right now all he wanted was to bury himself deep inside her until they were both mindless with the ecstasy of it.

It was insanity. Sex was mindless for him, something he hardly relished and had never craved, thanks to his torturous mortal existence.

But Maya was different. Neither struck with terror nor blinded by desire, she affected him like no mortal woman had ever done in his long life. His hands left the handlebars and slid slowly up her arms to push the duster jacket further back, exposing the sweet curve where her neck met her shoulder for his delight. The little moan that escaped her when he pressed a hot, open-mouthed kiss there sent a rush of volcanic heat through his body. He felt the answering sparks in her and knew he could either fan them into an inferno or pull away now.

_Pull away,_ he told himself even as the taste of her skin branded him. Had any woman ever tasted this good? _Let her go, scare her off, do anything but seduce this woman!_

But at that moment she slid her hands higher on his thighs as she arched back against him, and the strange new fire in his blood raged and took the decision from him.

No, by all the gods he wasn't going to burn alone.

"Give me your mouth, Maya," Acheron murmured against her skin, tracing an erotic pattern there with his tongue and feeling her shiver. As she turned her head to offer those full lips to him, he had just enough sanity left to construct a shield around them in case Artemis chose this moment to look in on him.

And then he kissed her and lost his mind.

Her taste was heaven itself, heat and light and a passion so all-consuming there was no fighting it. This was no hesitant first kiss. He ravished her mouth with all the passion of a man pushed past his breaking point. She reached up and threaded her fingers into his hair, claiming him even as she surrendered, meeting every stroke and thrust of his tongue with one of her own. The sheer fervor of her kiss told him that their ride had affected her as deeply as it had him. He grasped her hips and lifted her effortlessly, turning her in midair until she straddled the motorcycle backward, never breaking the kiss. Her legs draped over his and her full breasts, soft and tempting against his chest, fueled the fire inside him. Every flick and caress of her tongue raised his desire higher until it became a raging need.

He wanted to taste every inch of her but there was no way he could break away from the paradise of her kiss. His hands slid down her spine beneath her leather duster until he cupped that sweet bottom that had driven him to madness all the way home, pulling her hips tightly to his. His erection nestled between her thighs, a few layers of restraining material the only barrier between him and the haven he so desperately wanted to claim.

He rocked against her before he could stop himself and she moaned. The little sounds of passion and pleasure she made deep in her throat were making him crazy and he did it again just to hear that gorgeous moan. This time she shuddered breathlessly and he realized how easy it would be to make her climax in his arms right now.

He wanted that. Gods, he wanted that, wanted to feel her shatter against him, capturing her sounds of ecstasy in his mouth as he took her over the edge, and he couldn't possibly wait to get her in the house to have it. He gripped her hips and moved her in a slow circle over his straining cock, torturing them both with the exquisite friction. "A taste of pleasures to come," he growled against her lips.

She whimpered breathlessly, trying to make him rock against her again as he had before, but he refused to rush. He wanted to addict her to the joys he could give her, wanted to savor her at leisure, wanted her to know that he would far, far outshine any lover she'd ever had. Slow was the only way to do it.

He brought her close to the edge and backed off, took her to the brink with one hard caress and then held her motionless when she would have writhed against him, teased her with tiny motions that built the heat so slowly she would have begged had he given her the use of her mouth. Never for an instant did he release her from his voracious kiss, devouring her, ravishing her mouth with a skill and fierce desire that only made her throb that much more.

And when Acheron had held her at the edge for so long that Maya was wild in his arms, he suddenly surged against her, giving her at last what she ached for. Had he not kissed her relentlessly, she would have screamed from the incredible pleasure that burst through every nerve. _Mine,_ he thought fiercely as she shuddered against him, _mine!_ as her hands tightened in his hair and the waves of her ecstasy flowed through his mind with the force of a freight train. Maya trembled from head to toe when the orgasm finally released her, collapsing against him, completely spent.

Acheron soothed her with slow caresses and gentle kisses, holding her close and feeling her thundering heartbeat against his chest. "Thank you," he murmured, trailing a line of kisses down her throat as she clung to him, and he meant it. He could touch minds at will, but never had anyone shared the peak of sexual fulfillment with him before. He hadn't taken it from her. She'd given it, sending her pleasure straight through him in a way he'd never before experienced, and gods, how he ached to feel it again.

Maya laughed weakly, pressing her face against his shoulder, her hands still in his hair. "I think that's my line," she whispered, still shaking from the force of her release. "I can't imagine you had half as much fun as I did."

He smiled against her hair. "You have no idea how much I enjoyed your pleasure," he corrected her, stroking her back. True, his body was still hard and aching, but feeling her shudder against him and tasting her cries of rapture had satisfied him in a way that words couldn't explain, in a way no sex had ever felt. And when she came and her incredible pleasure had flooded his mind, so hot and wild and unexpected, it had been more incredible and erotic than any release he'd ever had. Oh, but Acheron wanted to do that again, this time not on a motorcycle but in his enormous bed where he could please Maya in ways she'd never even imagined.

She didn't lift her head. "I really must have dreamed you," she murmured, still breathless. "There's no way I would really have just done that with someone I hardly know unless I created him out of my fantasies. I'm not that kind of girl."

Acheron's smile broadened. It was nice to be thought of as a _good_ dream for a change. "I think we were both caught off-guard," he said lightly, wanting to ease her obvious fears. There had never been a woman born who could resist him and he'd deliberately set out to seduce Maya from the instant she'd looked up at him with those fiery amber eyes outside Sanctuary. It would be beyond hypocritical of him to think less of her because he'd succeeded.

And besides, his words were true. He'd been completely unprepared for the incredible attraction he felt for Maya, and even now he was just becoming aware of how out of control he'd been. He hadn't even let her get off the motorcycle, for pity's sake, and what if Kyrian and Amanda had come home and pulled into the garage a few minutes ago? At least he'd had the sense to shield them from Artemis. The last thing he needed right now was a jealous goddess showing up and making everything exponentially worse.

With those thoughts in mind, Acheron swung his leg over the seat and stood, still holding Maya effortlessly against him. No way in hell was he letting her go just yet but he knew she'd be embarrassed should Amanda and Kyrian find them in such a compromising position, despite the fact that he hadn't so much as touched a single button on her blouse. "Looks like I'm three for three on carrying you up to bed," he said as he walked slowly through the dark garage.

Maya laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. "A good thing, too, because I don't think my legs are working again just yet."

He smiled in pure male satisfaction. It was a wonderful thing to please his woman. He couldn't resist bending down and nuzzling her ear. "When you're ready we'll do it right, Maya," he whispered, flicking her earlobe with his tongue just to make her shiver. "I'll please you so thoroughly that you can't move at all. I'm going to lick every inch of your skin and give you such pleasure that what just happened will seem like a mere handshake, and then I'll do it all over again."

When he pulled back Maya's eyes were two bright jewels and her cheeks were flushed. "Oh, my," she breathed, pressing a hand to her chest as if to slow her racing heart.

"But not tonight," Ash added with a wicked grin, his low tone conjuring erotic images of all the sensual things he'd whispered in her ear. "You're tired and you'll need your energy for what I have in mind." He meant that, too. He intended to love her until she couldn't move, but he intended it to take a long, long time.

"You should be outlawed, do you know that?"

He grinned. "If I told you that it's happened in the past, would you believe me?" he asked, starting up the stairs. Maya nodded without hesitation and he laughed.

Ash stopped in front of her door and set her gently on her feet, keeping an arm around her in case her legs really were feeling too weak to support her. "It would be a very bad idea for me to come any further, _cara mia_," he murmured, cupping her cheek with his other hand. "I don't want to push you and I know you're already having second thoughts about what just happened, but if I see you and a bed in the same vicinity right now there will be only one outcome." It was a fact that still astonished him.

She smiled up at him. Normally such arrogance would have angered her but having experienced his heat and hunger firsthand, she knew it was no exaggeration. If he touched her, she'd melt and revel in the melting. She reached up and traced the rim of his sunglasses. "Are you going to take these off and give me a goodnight kiss at least?" she asked softly.

Strangely enough, Acheron hesitated at her question. Maya's smile faded at the tension she suddenly felt in him. "Acheron?" she murmured. "What's wrong?"

He caught her hand and pressed a kiss into the palm. Without answering, he bent and kissed her, taking his time, making it an unmistakable promise of more. "Take tonight as it is, Maya," he said softly when he pulled back, a solemn note in his voice that hadn't been there before. "Tomorrow is soon enough for anything else."

And before she could protest he was gone, leaving her standing by her door in utter confusion. "What did I say?" she whispered out loud, pressing her fingers against her tingling lips as her thoughts whirled.

The man was absolutely gorgeous—built like Michaelangelo's David and possessing a face that could make an angel weep—able to give a kiss that robbed her of the ability to breathe, and from all indications was a lover like most women could only dream of. And he was sensitive to her hesitation and backed off rather than push her for more, even knowing he could easily seduce her into giving it. What in the world could he possibly be hiding behind those sunglasses that would have a chance of ruining a package like that? Scars? Please, she'd seen scars before and they didn't scare her. He obviously wasn't cross-eyed or blind; he'd driven them home. A big, hairy mole? Those could be removed if it bothered him that much; she couldn't imagine it bothering her. And try as she might, she couldn't think of anything else disturbing yet small enough to disguise behind a pair of shades.

She changed and fell into bed, intrigued and disturbed but completely exhausted by the long evening and its unexpectedly incredible ending. He hadn't even touched her skin and that had been the most intense orgasm she'd ever experienced. His promise to better it, not just once but over and over until she couldn't even move, made her breath catch all over again. She had absolutely no doubt it was a promise he was fully capable of fulfilling and she knew she'd dream of it all night.

She stared at the door, determined. Men like this didn't come along every day and she had no intention of letting this one get away. She didn't care what he was hiding behind the sunglasses, and likewise she wasn't going to press him to show her something that so obviously made him uncomfortable. No, she would accept him at his own pace, just as he had promised to do for her.


	10. Chapter 10

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

By the time Ash reached bottom of the stairs, he'd at least partially come to his senses and was completely furious with himself.

What the _hell_ had he been thinking?

He called Kyrian on his cell phone to let him know that Maya was safely home before shoving open the double doors that separated the north wing from the rest of the house, slamming them behind them with far more force than necessary.

This was the kind of behavior he'd flay the skin off his Dark-Hunters for!

Maya belonged to the god. Ash knew she belonged to the god. He'd had that thought uppermost in mind when he'd grabbed her and pulled her away from the fight, and then… and then…

He'd looked into those eyes and lost all his reason to the siren song he saw there.

_Stupid, unforgivable mistake!_ Ash berated himself viciously. He'd be lucky if Archon didn't shatter him into a million pieces for the sheer hubris he'd displayed tonight.

And the worst part was, deep down inside where he couldn't lie to himself, Acheron didn't regret what he'd done one tiny little bit. Whatever happened now, it had been worth it to hold her in his arms and taste her, those sweet, hot kisses that could make a soulless man believe in heaven. To devour her cries of rapture straight from her mouth, more intoxicating than all the wines of Bacchus. _Mine,_ he'd vowed as she'd ridden the orgasm he'd given her, the pleasure she'd so incredibly shared with him, and that insanity still pounded irrevocably in his brain.

Maya was his and heaven help any other man who so much as looked at her.

He actually gave in to the urge to check his palms, feeling like an Arcadian who'd been given a mate by the Fates to win and claim if he could. No symbol marked his skin, but the fact that he'd actually _looked_ for one was incredibly disturbing.

_Madness. Insanity!_

Maya was mortal, she was being hunted by a city full of Daimons, she was carrying the reincarnation of one of the most dangerous gods who had ever existed, and all Acheron could think of right now was zapping himself into her room and finishing what he'd started. Burying himself deep inside the heat he knew waited for him alone, the blaze he'd kindled. She was fiery as molten lava and oh, how he wanted to burn. By all that was holy, he _ached_ for it!

_Damn_ the gods, he thought, snarling. Could they never leave him alone for even one minute? Did they have nothing better to do than sit up on Olympus and plot ways to make his endless life even more miserable?

Because while one taste was nowhere near enough to sate, it was clearly quite enough to addict. Archon's decree that Maya know nothing of Daimons or Dark-Hunters or even the fact that her baby was a god was going to go flying out the window the instant she saw Ash's eyes, and there was no doubt that she'd eventually see them because staying away and never touching her again was out of the question. Even if he'd been inclined to try it, which he wasn't, Kyrian was right. There had to be a reason she was here with the last surviving Atlantean on Earth. No, he couldn't just avoid her.

Besides, he'd promised to make love to Maya until she couldn't move or think, and that was one promise he had every intention of delivering on. And though he wore his wraparound shades almost all the time, he didn't sleep in the damn things. He'd just have to think of something to tell her about his eyes, some explanation for the rampant magic there that couldn't be hidden, that was so turbulent it even vaporized colored contact lenses instantly.

He ripped the glasses off and threw them onto his dresser, his body still aching with lust, his jaw clenched with self-derision. He'd obviously lost his mind. It had taken over eleven thousand years, but he'd finally gone stark raving mad. Only insanity could excuse or explain why he was standing here contemplating defying the only god he'd ever really honored by indulging in an act he'd always hated.

But then he remembered her soft lips, the taste of her filling his senses, the way she'd shuddered in his arms at the peak of her climax, and he couldn't make himself take it back. _Mine,_ he'd sworn in the haze of passion, and still it bound him. Mark or no mark, Acheron had claimed Maya and to that he would hold, let the gods do to him what they would.

#&#

"Maya, are you sure you're supposed to be doing stuff like that?"

The barest hint of a smile crossed Maya's face at Nick's quiet, worried voice. It had always amused her how people thought that speaking quietly wouldn't _really_ disturb someone who was meditating. "Yes, Nick," she replied without moving or opening her eyes. "It's fine."

Nick stared at her doubtfully. Her face was serene, her arms loose at her sides, her hands together, fingers intertwined, and she didn't look like she was in any distress. But if his legs had been stretched between two chairs, leaving him hanging in midair in the splits, Nick was certain he'd have been screaming in agony. "You're not gonna… you know, jar anything loose?" he asked, wincing.

Maya laughed at that and opened her eyes. "Just think how easily I'll give birth," she said, regarding him calmly from that position that was making him want to cross his legs. Hard.

Nick shuddered. "I don't think I wanted to know that," he said fervently. "How long are you gonna stay there, anyway?"

She placed her hands on the floor beneath her hips, taking her weight on her arms as she raised her legs up off the chairs and brought them down beneath her. The corner of her mouth quirked up. "Feel better?"

"Much," Nick said sincerely. "Seeing that hurts men."

"I meant your food poisoning, you goof," Maya laughed. "You look better."

He shrugged. "A twenty-four hour thing, I guess," he said. Then his eyes narrowed. "I hear you were a busy girl at Sanctuary, sis."

Maya smiled and raised an eyebrow. "And?"

Nick scowled. "And? _And?_" he sputtered indignantly.

"Oh, stop it," she snapped, not in the mood to hear his lecture. Not when she'd spent the last half-hour in meditation to try to calm the churning emotions that had filled her since waking when she'd realized that she had no idea who Acheron really was or how to find him again.

And meditation, her refuge and her peace, was definitely letting her down now. The man had completely captivated her and it hadn't been purely physical. He fascinated her. The knowledge of how much he'd wanted her was intoxicating in itself—there was no way to hide his arousal when they'd been locked in such a passionate embrace. But rather than carry her into her bedroom and satisfy his own hunger, he'd made promises that made her burn and stepped back, not rushing her.

He'd acted like a man in search of more than a single night of mind-blowing sex, and she desperately hoped she'd interpreted his words and actions right. She wanted to see him again and she wasn't very happy about not knowing how to find him.

Nick was still standing there, glaring, bringing her back to the present. "You started a _fight,_ Maya!" he persisted. "You're _pregnant, _dammit!"

She rolled her eyes at him, wondering if it would make her feel better to deck her brother. It was a good thing for Nick that she loved him so much because he'd certainly chosen the wrong time to mess with her. "Gee, thanks for reminding me," she said sarcastically. "Wow, I'd forgotten that!"

"You're not funny."

"And you're annoying," she shot back. Her hand rested protectively over the gentle curve of her stomach where she could just begin to feel the swelling of new life. "What do you think Jay would do if he found out about this baby, Nick? Just go away quietly? It was just a matter of time before he saw me, and if I'd hidden behind the big boys—" she rolled her eyes again, thinking of Acheron's words the night before, "—he'd have known at once something was different with me. Even if I was inclined to hide behind a man, which you know I'm not."

"So you decided to start a fight to hide the fact that you're pregnant?" Nick looked both incredulous and utterly disgusted.

Maya stood, deciding the conversation was finished. "You men drive me nuts," she said, biting off every word. "If you'd been there, Nick, you'd have seen me kick his ass. This assumption that I'm just some delicate little female in need of manly protection is making me want to give you a demonstration of my competence. He never laid a finger on me. Now I'd advise you to take your insulting self out of here before I decide I need a sparring partner. Or in your case, a punching bag!"

Nick actually looked a bit sheepish. "I know you can take care of yourself, sis," he said at last. "I know that better than anyone. I just worry about you."

Maya smiled at him, her anger leaving her as easily as it always did. "Well, don't worry about this," she said.

"All right, I won't," he said. Then he grinned. "Kyrian told me about it, but next time, make sure I'm around, will ya? I'd have really loved to see you kick him in the face!"

She laughed. "Hmm, I think that was everyone's favorite part," she grinned. "I know _I_ liked it." Even Acheron had commented on it, before taking her in his arms and giving her a glimpse of heights she hadn't even imagined.

_No, don't think about that,_ she told herself sternly. _Not unless you want to go stark raving mad…_

Nick left then, chuckling. Maya stretched her arms, going to the large punching bag hanging at the other end of Kyrian's huge private gym. The self-imposed moratorium on thinking of last night didn't seem to be having much effect. Ash was still in her head. She couldn't seem to meditate him out, but maybe exercise would work. She did a few moderate kicks to warm up before going into her full workout.

Acheron lounged in the doorway and watched her, unseen and silent. The woman was poetry in motion, a deadly blade of exquisite beauty. He could stand here and watch her all day. The briefest of thoughts had confirmed Nick at his computer—the Squire could spend hours on the internet—and Kyrian and Amanda were in the den, supposedly discussing ways of keeping Maya safe but in reality engaged in a much different pastime. Another thought placed a barrier at either end of the hall—no one could pass by without him knowing it even though Ash didn't think any of them would be wandering through the house any time soon.

So he took his time, drinking in every nuance of this woman who so intoxicated him. Maya was danger and grace personified, her every move fierce and powerful, yet so elegant and lithe it stole his breath. The Spandex tank and leggings she wore hid nothing from his gaze. The ripple and play of her muscles as she moved made his breath catch. She was so beautiful, so incredibly sexy, and before he'd made the conscious decision to move he found himself before her, reaching to drag her into his arms where she belonged.

Maya gasped as she caught sight of Acheron in the mirrors but didn't even have time to speak before he'd pulled her firmly against him and caught her lips in a kiss that turned her into a quivering flame, incapable of thought. She clung to him, the heat generated by her exercise morphing into passion so swiftly it made her head spin, hardly noticing when he lifted her completely from her feet to hold her against his chest. Her arms went around his shoulders and one leg slid up his thigh to curl around his waist, her only thought to get as close to him as she possibly could.

It took every ounce of willpower Ash possessed to pull away from that glorious kiss. There was no doubt at all in his mind that if he carried her from the gym straight to his bedroom right now and kept her there for the rest of the day, she wouldn't resist a bit. Only the thought of Archon kept Ash from giving in to the powerful craving that all but consumed him, but even then it was far more difficult to pull away than he would have liked and he dipped back for one more taste of those sweet lips. Then another.

Maya looked up at him through lowered lashes when he finally succeeded in pulling away, her topaz eyes glittering. "Well, hello there," she murmured with a slow smile that made him burn.

The feel of her leg around his waist was making it incredibly difficult for Ash to have anything even vaguely resembling a rational thought. It put the greatest ache he'd ever suffered against the sweetest haven he'd ever craved. He finally forced himself to lower her to her feet, but instead of releasing him, Maya slid down him in a slow, erotic full-body caress. He could barely restrain himself from taking her against the nearest wall with all the wild passion she inspired in him. Only when both her feet were on the floor did Ash trust himself to speak. "Do you have any idea how sexy you are right now?" he growled.

Maya went up on her toes to brush her lips against his jaw. "I think you just told me fairly eloquently," she whispered, her warm breath tickling the sensitive skin of his ear. Then she leaned back and grinned. "I was just wondering if I'd actually see you again," she admitted. "I'm fairly sure I'm awake now."

He laughed, remembering her words behind the club. "Want me to pinch you, just to make sure?" he offered, his hand sliding low to caress and cup her rounded bottom through the thin Spandex.

She shivered against him. "Only if I get to pinch you back," she said, both her hands sliding down his back before dipping into his back pockets to give him a squeeze.

The breath slammed out of his lungs. His mouth was on hers again before he could stop himself. She laughed softly into his mouth, her tongue dancing with his. She tasted divine, like soft woman and raw, wild sex, and he was losing the will to fight the call to make her his.

_Remember Archon!_ his mind shouted against the rising roar of desire. _Remember the god, for the love of heaven!_

It was as if the thought sent a breath of cool air through his overheated body. Acheron brushed his lips lightly across hers before stepping back, shivering as her hands slipped free from his pockets and trailed across his hips before falling back to her sides. "You can pinch me anytime you want," he said before he could stop himself.

Maya laughed. "Hmm, I'll definitely keep that in mind," she teased, raking him with a measuring once-over as though deciding where to begin.

He had to change the direction of this conversation before he went up in flames. "Nick says you live in LA," he said, latching onto the first thing he could think of. "Are you just visiting him here or moving to New Orleans?"

She laughed. It was a very obvious attempt to change the subject, he supposed, smiling himself. "My future plans," Maya said, taking a step toward him that undid any progress he'd been making in backing away from her, "aren't, um, _firm_." And her fingertips brushed his stomach just above the button of his jeans, starting to glide downward.

He caught her wrist before she entered dangerous territory and shook a finger at her. "You're trying to make me lose it, aren't you?" he accused softly.

Maya smiled up at him, her free hand capturing a handful of his hair. "Fair's fair," she murmured silkily, stepping closer again. "How am I doing?"

If he took a deep breath her breasts would brush his chest, she was standing that close. Ash fought the tidal wave of desire that threatened to swamp him. "You're doing far too well," he whispered. He couldn't do this. She belonged to Archon. But when she gave him that slow, seductive smile, Acheron found it hard to remember to breathe, much less to remember reasons why he shouldn't drag her to his bed and keep her there. Forever. "You're a bad influence, and gods help me, I want you beyond all reason."

She laughed and leaned forward, pressing her body against his again. "A determined one, at the very least," she agreed, raising her face for his kiss. "And the feeling is entirely mutual."

The breaching of one of his perimeter guards in the hall saved Acheron from committing the ultimate madness. He pulled away, cursing in an ancient tongue. "Someone's coming," he whispered when Maya looked at him with hurt in her eyes at his abrupt turning away. "I don't think you want to give them a show."

She shook her head gratefully. Then Acheron bent quickly, gave her a hard, fast kiss, and left the gym before she could say another word. No one needed to know what was between himself and Maya, especially since he couldn't even explain it or start to comprehend it himself.

Amanda poked her head in barely half a minute later. "Hey, Maya, I—" She paused, seeing Maya standing frozen in the middle of the room, fingers pressed to her lips. "Are you all right?"

Maya jumped and dropped her hand quickly. "Fine," she lied as her body ached with unfulfilled desire. Damn, but that man knew how to kiss! "What can I do for you, Amanda?"

Amanda entered and looked at her closely for a moment before shrugging. "Kyrian wants to know if you feel up to going out for lunch," she said. "Our treat."

"Sure, sounds fine to me."

Amanda left her there and returned to Kyrian, frowning at Maya's strange behavior. "What is it?" Kyrian asked as soon as he saw her. "She's not going for it?"

She waved her hand, dismissing that concern. "No, no, she's happy to go out for lunch," she said. "But if I didn't know better I would've sworn there was someone in the room with her just a second before I got there."

Kyrian rose and frowned. "You mean, besides Nick, I'm assuming," he said. Amanda nodded. "That's impossible. Besides us, Nick, and Ash, no one can get in this house without us knowing it. You don't think Ash—"

Amanda shook her head, cutting him off in mid-sentence. "As adamant as he was about not letting her meet any Dark-Hunters? I don't think so," she said. Then she shook her head again. "No, she looked like someone had just kissed the living daylights out of her. You think Ash would do that?"

Both of Kyrian's eyebrows rose as he shook his head. "I think he'd expire anyone who tried that," he said, picturing the look on Ash's face when he'd discovered that Maya was pregnant with a god and that he'd been saddled with the heavy responsibility of her protection.

"Why?"

Kyrian blinked at her. He'd almost forgotten that she didn't know about Archon. "You figured out the alert," he hedged. "You think this is the time for her to take a new boyfriend?"

Amanda sighed. "Guess you're right," she said with a shrug, and Kyrian was very grateful she didn't press for more information. Information he couldn't give her.


	11. Chapter 11

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Lunch went smoothly. Kyrian again took her to Sanctuary, because after she'd started the fight with Jay last night Maya had been forced to leave before the rest of the Strati could get a look at her. Nick and Maya spent most of the meal arguing about whether or not she should stay in New Orleans or go back to Los Angeles, so luckily the Squire was too distracted to notice the Strati file through the club. The last complication Kyrian needed was for Nick to freak out on them.

By the end of the meal Maya was in a thoroughly bad mood. Despite what she'd told Acheron, she had every intention of returning to LA. She'd worked too hard to build up her reputation there and maintain her three dojos to just abandon it all now. Nick just didn't understand what it took to keep it all running. No, she'd made herself a success from the sweat of her own brow and she wasn't about to let Jay run her away from that.

Besides, as she'd pointed out repeatedly to Nick, it had proven far more dangerous for her in New Orleans than it ever had in LA. His reply that he could protect her here hadn't gone over well at all.

Maya prided herself on being the type of woman who absolutely did _not_ need protecting.

And to top it all off, she was frustrated. Incredibly frustrated and more than a little miffed at Ash for starting something and not finishing it. He'd been right, she hadn't wanted to give Amanda Hunter an eyeful, but when she'd left why hadn't Ash come back? The idea that she wanted him way more than he wanted her was not a welcome or happy one. Back at the Hunters' house—if such a palatial estate could be termed a mere "house"—Maya locked herself in her room and flung herself on the bed, giving herself full permission to sulk. She didn't usually give in to the urge but today she felt justified.

Ash felt her bad temper and sexual frustration all the way across the house and fully sympathized. He felt exactly the same way. He had no doubt that zapping himself into her bedroom would be an excellent way to cure both of them of their volatile feelings, but he had no intention of doing so. At least not yet. Not until he found out where this intense attraction came from. He'd never wanted a woman so badly before in his life and it was just too much of a coincidence that Maya happened to be the one that inspired such passion. Hell, when he was around her he should be blinded by the aura of her unborn child, not blindsided by lust.

But it was more than lust. If it had been only that, Acheron knew he could have resisted with ease. No, he genuinely admired her, respected the accomplishments she'd made in what had to have been a rough life. Her fighting spirit called to his own, as did her determination. No one achieved her level in the martial arts without discipline and steadfast commitment. And yet despite her harsh background, despite her deadly fighting proficiency, she loved to laugh. Her sense of humor came through even when she was flirting with him and driving him out of his mind. Gods, he loved it.

He wanted her, all of her, everything about her. And there was no way in hell he could have her.

Artemis's unwelcome visit after the rest of them had left to return to Sanctuary hadn't helped his mood. The reminder of his bondage to her always made him burn with a helpless rage he was careful to hide. Now Ash hid Maya too, knowing she was just as great a weakness.

"Why are you shutting me out, Acheron?" the petulant goddess had pouted as he'd dodged her wandering hands and kept a firm lid on his temper. She clearly sensed he was concealing something from her even now. "You've done it twice now. I want to know what you're doing!"

"If I wanted you to know, would I be blocking you?" he'd countered, not even bothering to deny it.

Which had turned out to be a mistake as Artemis screamed herself into a jealous fury, striking a little too close to the mark for his comfort when she accused him of taking a mortal lover.

"There's no mortal lover," Ash had finally managed to interrupt her, exasperation coloring his tone. _Not yet, anyway,_ he thought before he could help it, and could have kicked himself for the thought. Artemis had lost the ability to reliably read his mind at will thousands of years ago, but every once in a while she'd still manage to pick up the stray thought. He'd gotten lucky this time.

By the time she'd left, he'd been screamed at and thoroughly groped despite his best efforts, neither of which had left him in the best of moods. Gods, but he hated Artemis sometimes. Well, most of the time, actually, but as she held the souls of his Hunters, there was little he could do about her. He just had to endure her, something else that left him in a rotten temper.

He was a warrior, an ancient sorcerer, and it went completely against the grain for him to just _endure_ someone who pissed him off. He was a man of action, but right now the only action he wanted was far too dangerous to have.

Even he, a god-slayer, wasn't stupid enough to directly challenge the god Maya carried.

And another thing, come to think of that unborn child. Maya's pregnancy had suddenly started to progress at roughly the speed of light. When she'd arrived less than a week ago he'd pegged the baby at just under four months along. Now it felt more like five. He knew he hadn't been wrong in his first estimation, and he wasn't wrong now, either. Something else was going on here and Acheron was determined to find out what it was before he gave in to the urge to make love to her.

Because he still had every intention of making good on every one of the promises he'd whispered in her ear last night. Whatever the cause, wherever the source of his feelings, Ash had no intention of letting her go. No other man would ever touch her. She was his and his she would remain, and he would make sure she loved every second of it if it cost him the wrath of the most powerful god who had ever existed.

He itched to burn off some of this nervous energy. He hadn't fed when Artemis was there and the volatile mixture of hunger, anger and lust made him just a little too dangerous. Well, there was only one thing for it. Ash smiled grimly as he pulled on his jacket and boots. Killing a few Daimons had never failed to make him feel better, and now that they were hunting Maya _en masse,_ in his opinion they had never deserved it more.

#&#

Maya came awake abruptly, her heart pounding, unable to figure out what had woken her. The room was silent and the house still, but she couldn't shake the certainty that something was wrong.

She rolled out of bed and frowned at the bedside clock. It was the middle of the night. She pulled a knee-length robe on over her short nightgown and opened the bedroom door, wondering just what she expected to find out there at three a.m. but determined to check anyway. Nick and Amanda had boasted of their super-tight security system, but Maya knew nothing was perfect. If there was an intruder in the house, they'd get a surprise when she found them. Nothing would get near that sweet baby or the couple who had been so kind to her unless it came straight through her first.

Descending the stairs silently, Maya caught the glow of lights from the kitchen. She frowned. That was an odd place for an intruder to start, but her gut instinct told her that the source of her unease came from there. She crossed the entryway silently, every muscle tensed and ready for quick action, and looked into the kitchen.

She almost didn't stifle her gasp at the scene that met her shocked eyes. Kyrian and Nick were both there, wide awake in the middle of the night. Nick was speaking low but urgently on the phone as Kyrian helped Acheron out of his torn leather jacket.

And Maya knew at once what had woken her even before she saw the blood on the jacket and shirt Kyrian tossed aside. Acheron, her Acheron, was injured.

Without thinking, Maya rushed into the dimly lit kitchen. "What happened?" she demanded, ignoring Kyrian and her brother and heading straight for Ash.

Nick hung up with a curse he'd never before used in her presence and Kyrian spun around as if he could block Ash from her sight with his body. But Acheron just looked at her and sighed. "You shouldn't be here, Maya."

His words cut her deeply. "Well, tough," she said, narrowing her eyes and not showing the hurt. "Here I am." She pushed past Kyrian and saw blood dripping steadily onto the floor behind the barstool Ash sat on. Her stomach lurched with fear. "Good Lord, what in the world happened to you?"

Ash held up his hands before she could touch him. "It's being taken care of," he said, his voice still low and calm, absolutely cool in the face of the panic Maya was trying to keep from showing. How could he be so calm? "Go back to bed."

She snatched a clean dishtowel from the stack on the counter and kept coming, dancing around his blocking hands to get a quick glimpse at his back before he pulled her back in front of him. " Dear God, Ash! You've been shot!"

He sighed again, as if her concern wearied him. "Yes, I've been shot. Go back to bed."

"But you should go to the hospital!"

"Don't worry about it, Maya," Acheron commanded. "Go back to bed."

Maya ignored him, trying to get around him to press the towel against the worst of the wounds. If he lived he'd find out that mere repetition of an order did not make her any more likely to comply with it. "Let me help—" she started, wishing she could take back the thought _if he lived._.

A world without him in it was just too horrible to think about.

"I don't want—" Ash interrupted, turning again to block her.

"But you need—" she interrupted right back before he could get to the 'go to bed' part.

He snatched her other hand as she tried to get around him the other way. "I _don't_ need—" he cut her off again.

"I'm just going to—"

"_Damn it,_ woman!" Acheron roared in complete frustration.

"Damn it, let me help you!" Maya shouted right back, refusing to be intimidated even as he held both her hands in an iron grip she couldn't break. He didn't hurt her, but she was given the firm impression that only his conscious gentling of that grasp prevented it. Good gracious, the man was strong!

And sexy, and amazing, and just about everything she'd ever wanted. Hell, no, she wasn't going to back down!

Ash scowled at her and she glared right back, their faces only inches apart. Kyrian and Nick stared frozen in the background. Maya ignored them both. "You've yelled, I've yelled, we all see that you're a tough guy," she said more quietly. "Will you let me try to stop the bleeding now?"

Acheron didn't even hesitate. "No. It's being taken care of. Go back to bed."

And Maya couldn't pretend anymore that his repeated dismissals and refusal of her aid didn't hurt. A lot. "Fine," she whispered, trying to match his cold tone but unable to look up at those blank sunglasses again. How she wished she could see his eyes, to see if they'd at least given him something for the pain he had to be suffering. "Fine. Get your hands off me and I'll leave you to bleed to death in peace."

Kyrian felt the terror and hurt pouring off Maya in chaotic waves and could hardly keep the shock from his face. He and Amanda had been wrong, dead wrong. It _had_ been Acheron in the gym with Maya earlier. A woman didn't feel so strongly for an injured stranger no matter how sympathetic she was. Those chaotic emotions coming off her were for someone far more important to her than that—family, or a dear friend.

Or a lover.

_When the hell did this happen?_ Kyrian stared at Maya, her face as emotionless as if it had been carved from stone in stark contrast to the anxiety that radiated from her, and wondered why Ash didn't seem to feel it, too.

Nick suddenly turned and walked silently out of the room, his eyes blank, and Kyrian knew he had to have received a heavy mental imperative from Acheron. Nothing else could shut up the loudmouthed Squire, especially where his sister was concerned. Before that thought had even finished forming in his mind, Kyrian felt his own head turning toward the door without his conscious direction. He didn't need the hard nudge in the back that followed to take the hint. He, too, left without a word.

Acheron stared down at Maya's impassive face. He did indeed feel the riotous surge of emotions coming off her, chief among them the pain he'd caused her by refusing her help and an overwhelming fear for him that made his heart ache. Fear _for_ him, not fear _of _him. Archon's decree be damned, he couldn't let her walk away from him feeling like this. "Maya," he said softly. "Maya, talk to me."

She didn't bother to answer but he didn't need her to say the words aloud. Her thoughts were as clear as if she'd screamed them at him. As far as Maya was concerned, she'd already said more than enough. It was just like she'd thought earlier. She wanted far more from him than he wanted from her. She'd been wrong about his motivations last night. It was just sex to him.

"That's not true," Ash murmured, reeling from the revelation that she felt the same powerful draw he did, that she actually _needed_ to help him.

She still didn't look up at him and he felt her fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Her hurt and angry thoughts stabbed at him. Sure, right, he cared. He cared so much he'd rather bleed all over the floor than let her help him or even get behind him to see how bad the damage was. What the hell did he think she'd do, stab him a few times while she was back there?

Acheron winced with ancient memories that hadn't faded even an iota with time. "That's exactly why I hate to have anyone behind me," he said softly.

She felt like weeping and made her face even harder so he wouldn't know it. _Can't you trust me, just a little? Can't you feel that I wouldn't do that to you?_ she lamented in her mind, unable to find the courage to speak the thoughts aloud. Her heart ached all the more for whatever had happened in his past to make him so distrustful now, that made him unable to care for her as she cared for him.

_She cared for him! _His fingers tightened around her wrists. "I do trust you, Maya," he whispered. "And I care for you more than you know. Much more than is wise."

A shock ran through Maya's entire body as she realized at last what was going on. He was reading her mind, answering her unspoken thoughts! But her rational mind dismissed that idea at once. That was impossible. They were just lucky guesses, that was all. Telepathy was a myth. No one could read minds.

_I can._ Acheron's voice was a low rumble in her head. Maya's eyes flew to his face, confirming that his lips weren't moving. _I don't have a choice, do I? You won't talk to me._

Maya gaped and would have jerked away from him had he not still held her wrists. She was imagining things. She refused to believe it. It was impossible and insane and she just wasn't going there. Huh-uh, no way, she preferred sanity. Maybe this was why he hid his eyes, she thought wildly, so he could lie outrageously without giving himself away.

_I'll never lie to you. _Ash transferred her wrists to one of his hands, easily trapping them against his chest, and reached up to remove his sunglasses. _You want to see, don't you?_

She shut her eyes at once.

The sound of the sunglasses dropping on the counter was very loud in the silent room. "Look at me, Maya," she heard him whisper in that black velvet voice of his. _Look at me._

_No,_ she thought right back at him, shaking her head just in case he didn't pick up that thought. _No, I'm not looking. Put them back on._

"Why?"

She couldn't articulate through the wildly swirling thoughts that battered her numbed brain. He hid something behind those glasses he didn't want her to see, and she didn't want him to show her whatever it was just because he thought he had to make a point. She didn't want him to show her because he felt like she needed proof he was psychic, or to prove he wasn't lying, or because she'd manipulated him into it. She wouldn't look at his eyes tonight, not for any of those reasons. She wouldn't take that from him until it was freely offered.

Something in Acheron's chest tightened to the point of pain. She didn't even realize the gift she'd just given him. No one else in his long life had ever hesitated to take from him, whether he gave freely or not. "Maya, please believe I had no intention of hurting you," he murmured, tangling the fingers of his free hand in her hair and pulling her close. _Mine,_ that voice whispered again, and Ash closed his eyes and felt the rightness of it. _Mine._

"Let me help you," Maya whispered against his chest. He felt her shock that he would be concerned about her emotional pain when he was sitting there with half a dozen bullet holes in his back. "I won't stand behind you. Just—I can't stand the sight of you sitting there bleeding. Please?" It was the closest she'd ever come to begging a man for anything.

Ash sighed again, aching with the need to reassure her that these wounds were more a nuisance than a danger to him and hating that Archon's command kept him from doing so. He'd already hurt her once tonight by trying to obey that command, attempting to banish her from the kitchen for her own good, and he couldn't stand to do it again. He pressed the dishtowel back into her hand and rested his forehead on her shoulder as she reached around him to apply pressure to the worst of the wounds. It made the ragged wound throb, but if it made Maya feel better, it was a small price to pay. He'd endure the fires of hell if it meant he could hold her. The scent of her skin soothed him, aroused him, made him want to do impossible things just to impress her.

Gods, he was losing his mind. And he was very afraid he was falling in love.

V'Edrix arrived several minutes later, appearing in the kitchen with his usual disregard for the niceties of doors or knocking. He took one look at Acheron sitting there, his head still on Maya's shoulder, his arms around her waist, and shook his head. _You must really like living dangerously_, V'Edrix told Ash silently, raising an eyebrow.

Ash raised his head and fixed the Dream-Hunter with a cold glare. _She doesn't know anything,_ he spoke directly in V'Edrix's mind, extremely glad that Maya had missed the Dream-Hunter's distinctive entrance. _And she's not going to know anything. That's why she feels this is necessary. So watch yourself, will you?_

V'Edrix gave him a skeptical look. _You really think _that_ was what I was talking about?_

And Ash knew very well that the Dream-Hunter wasn't fooled a bit by his explanation. He straightened, already missing the warmth of her embrace. "Maya," he murmured, looking down at her without the sunglasses on and wondering if she would meet his eyes this time. He found that despite all the very good reasons he should be glad she'd refused earlier, he wanted her to look up and truly see him. He wanted her to know all of him, to find out if she could accept everything he was.

Insanity.

She raised her head but looked past his shoulder instead of at him. She hadn't been lying. She wouldn't look into his eyes tonight. He knew the instant she noticed V'Edrix standing there, felt her go on full alert. Her weight shifted subtly, and although she didn't relax the pressure on his wound for an instant, she managed to put her body between his and V'Edrix.

"Who's that?" she asked, and he felt her readiness to attack on his behalf should V'Edrix prove to be a threat. It warmed him more than it had any right to.

It was ridiculous. _He_ was supposed to be _her_ protector, not the other way around. She shouldn't be so willing to take on a man nearly a foot taller than she was in his defense. And Ash knew very well that the air around him vibrated with carnivorous violence no matter what he did or how he tried to hide it. He couldn't quite hide a smile at the notion that anyone would think he _needed_ defending.

But that was Maya, and he adored everything about her.

"He's a healer," Ash reassured her, skirting the edge of the truth. "Go on back to your room now." _There's nothing to worry about. I'll be fine, Maya._

Ash felt Maya's reluctance to leave him alone with this intimidating stranger but he didn't use compulsion on her. Just the thought of forcing her to do anything made his gut tighten. _He'll take care of it, Maya, but he won't work on me if you're here, _he reassured her again, hoping he wouldn't be forced to it. _Please, go back to your bedroom, and don't worry about me._

_You'll call if you need me. _

Ash's eyes widened as he felt her deliberately use the form of communication that had so frightened her mere moments ago. Her words hadn't been a question and he couldn't kill the warmth that spread through him. His warrior woman, still trying to protect him. _I promise,_ he told her. Right then, he would've done anything she asked.

At last she turned and left them alone in the kitchen, never once looking up into Ash's eyes.


	12. Chapter 12

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

V'Edrix shook his head again, watching Ash watch her go. Acheron followed the Dream-Hunter into the den once she was out of sight. V'Edrix used his telekinesis to close and lock the door behind them. "Seducing her is dangerous. This is a very foolish choice on your part, Acheron," he said once they were sealed in the soundproof room. "I shouldn't even have to say that."

"You say _choice_ like I had one," Ash said before he could stop the words. Damn, why had that slipped out? Maya was none of V'Edrix's business!

V'Edrix raised his eyebrows as Ash stretched out on the couch and closed his eyes, clearly dismissing the topic. He didn't drop it. "I don't think the god brought her here for your pleasure."

Ash ground his teeth. "Neither do I," he growled. "I think it's a complication I could do without. Now are you gonna heal me or sit there and play Dr. Phil all night long?"

An hour later Ash found himself standing outside Maya's door, working up the courage to knock. All through the healing he'd felt her awake inside, worrying about him, and it tore him up. He'd been unable to resist going to her but hesitated to knock. When he saw her and she found out that his wounds were gone, wouldn't that push her one step closer to knowing things she had no business knowing? Did he really dare to push the boundaries of Archon's decree that far? But how could he leave her this upset when it was within his power to soothe her?

The debate was suddenly taken out of his hands as the door opened and Ash found himself face-to-face with Maya. The briefest touch of her mind betrayed her intention to search the house for him, to make sure he was all right. She _felt_ his presence in the house. He was so stunned at the power of their bond that he couldn't say a word.

"Ash!" Maya whispered in shock to see him there. Her hands flew to touch his chest through the new shirt he'd donned, to make sure he was real even though she still avoided his eyes. "Why aren't you at the hospital? I thought you were going—"

Ash groaned and pulled her into his arms. Her concern made all his resolutions to tell her nothing fade into oblivion. No one had ever worried for him like this. "I have no need of hospitals," he murmured into her hair. Her scent surrounded him again, filling his mind with fire. "V'Edrix took care of everything. I told you not to worry."

She wrapped her arms around him, her hands searching his back carefully. "I don't take orders well, even orders not to worry." Then she paused, her hands sliding again over his back, this time more slowly as she searched for the bandages she'd expected and hadn't found. She raised her head and frowned at his chest. "How?" she asked simply.

Acheron felt torn in two. On one side lay his sworn duty and the need to keep Maya from knowing anything about him or the forces that swirled around her. On the other was the knowledge that here was a woman who affected him like no other and who he was already more than halfway in love with. Didn't she have a right to know what kind of man he really was? How could he deny her that knowledge? He found it an agony to deny her anything!

Instead of answering, he grabbed her hand and pulled her down the hall, taking the stairs two at a time when they reached the staircase. She didn't protest, just matched his pace without a word. When they came to the doors to the north wing Maya stiffened. "There's no construction, no remodeling, is there?" she asked.

Ash shook his head. "Amanda told you that to keep you away from my rooms," he admitted, pushing the doors open and leading her through without breaking stride.

Maya's outrage at Amanda's lie burned through his mind. He could sense that all Amanda had to do was ask her to stay away and she would've done it gladly. "Who told her to do that?"

Acheron stopped and caught her in his arms and, unable to resist temptation, he bent and nuzzled her ear. "I did," he whispered. "I have since seen the error of my ways," he added, nipping her earlobe just to make her shiver in his arms before drawing the sensitive lobe into his mouth.

She clung to him until he managed to come to his senses a little and pulled her down the hall again, not breaking stride until they were outside his bedroom. "Ash?" she whispered when he pushed open the door and she saw the enormous bed inside. "Are you really healed enough for this? I don't want to hurt you—"

He cupped her face in his hands. "I want to hold you tonight," he murmured, but it was more than want. He _needed_ this. "Just hold you. Will you give me that?"

Maya smiled, closing her eyes and raising her face to his. "And you say you can read minds," she teased gently. "Do you really have to ask?"

The urge to kiss her was almost overwhelming, but Ash resisted. If he kissed her right now he wouldn't stop until he was buried deep inside her and he didn't want to blatantly challenge the god. Somehow he'd have to resist the overpowering desire to make love to her, but he had to have Maya in his arms tonight, no matter what came later. He took her hand again and led her into his bedroom, not daring to touch her mind for fear he would see the same hunger there. He could fight himself, but if he felt her desire for him, the battle would be lost.

Once inside, Maya stopped him from drawing her directly down onto the bed. She reached for his shirt and pulled it over his head, and Ash didn't stop her. But when she turned him so that his back was to the mirror on his dresser, letting her look without standing behind him, his heart melted. "Maya—"

Her hands were on him, sliding over his unmarked back, and his voice died in a rush of heat. "That man," she whispered in wonder, tenderly touching the spot where she'd applied pressure to the bullet wound, "is he like Amanda's sister? The one who healed me?"

He clenched his teeth against the sweet feel of her hands on his skin and forced himself to nod. Amanda deserved a serious commendation for that story, he thought vaguely. Maya's hands moved again, tracing his shoulder-blades, running down his spine. He clenched his fists at his sides to keep from touching her, so hard he hurt.

Then Maya glanced down and saw what her exploration was doing to him. "Sorry," she whispered, blushing crimson and snatching her hands away.

He took her hands and kissed each one. "Your touch is heaven," he said softly. "Never apologize for anything but stopping."

She smiled, turning her hands to twine their fingers together. "I don't have to," she murmured.

A bolt of pure molten heat shot through him and it was all Ash could do not to give in to the desire to claim her for his own, heart and body and soul. He smiled down at her even though she still avoided his eyes. "Just let me hold you tonight," he whispered. "I don't ask any more of you than that."

She nodded and he was relieved that she didn't feel rejected or hurt again. It was difficult enough to resist without trying to reassure her just how much he really did want her. Maya crossed to the bed without another word and dropped her robe beside it before sliding beneath the blankets. Ash paused only long enough to strip off the rest of his clothing—he wouldn't take her, but he couldn't resist the temptation to feel her against his bare skin—before joining her and pulling her tightly against him.

She curled into him without hesitation even when she realized that her short nightgown and panties were the only things between them. She just sighed, wrapped her arms around him, and rested her head on his chest. "You're really gonna make it hard for me to keep my hands to myself, aren't you?" she teased.

He chuckled and stroked her back. The feel of her in his arms was both comfort and torture, and somehow, exactly right. He kissed the top of her head and threaded his fingers through her hair. "You'd better go to sleep fast," he advised, and to his surprise she did. To his greater surprise, he followed almost at once despite the aching of his overheated body.


	13. Chapter 13

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

V'Edrix came to him in his dream. "What the hell are you doing here?" Ash demanded. His subconscious was his own and he didn't appreciate the Dream-Hunter intruding.

But V'Edrix didn't snap back. He looked curiously compassionate. "Come with me," he said, turning and striding away without waiting to see if Ash followed.

Only then did Ash notice his surroundings. He'd last seen these green hills, azure streams, and the pristine white city in the distance eleven thousand years ago. He looked down at his clothing, his shock and unease growing when he found himself barechested, dressed in the traditional unadorned white kilt of an Atlantean temple penitent.

Oh, this was not good at all. It was apparently payment time.

Acheron followed, knowing he had no real choice. He'd known that Maya belonged to the god and he'd brought her to his bed anyway. Naturally the god would demand an accounting. He wasn't even surprised when V'Edrix led him to the ornate entrance of the Great Temple of Archon and left him there.

But Acheron had never in his life entered by this grand front entrance and he couldn't seem to make himself do it now. He slipped down the side alley as soon as the Dream-Hunter was out of sight, finding the tiny side-door used by the lower priests to dispose of the rubbish and scraps of burnt offerings. As he had done during his mortal life in Atlantis, Ash ducked in through there, making his way through the dark maze of back passages until he came to the hidden side entrance hidden in the farthest back corner of the temple proper.

He'd never set foot past this point, ever. Noble born he might have been, but Acheron had lived in shame and hiding. The only time he'd dared to even come here, he'd gotten to this point and lacked the courage to go further. Unlike Artemis's temple where he'd boldly challenged the goddess before her very altar, this place was different. Here was a god he revered. He'd crouched in the doorway and silently muttered his prayers to the god, then fled before he was caught there. The memory brought a crawling shame that Acheron hadn't felt in aeons.

A shame he'd knelt in this very spot and prayed to be freed from.

Acheron looked into the enormous sanctuary and stiffened at the sight of a white-robed figure standing before the altar. Broad-shouldered, handsome, even taller than Ash, he knew this was no priest even before Archon turned and stared straight at him with eyes that blazed like the sun.

Acheron fell to his knees, once more the mortal who had prayed for mercy from the shadows, who had begged to be delivered from his fate by the only god whom he had ever been able to imagine caring. He hadn't received mercy then and he expected none now. He didn't even think Archon had heard him all those many years ago. Why should the god grant him clemency now when Ash had challenged him twice over Maya?

"I heard you then, Acheron. Every word, every prayer. Don't doubt it."

Acheron shuddered at the sound of that voice. That voice, power and divinity distilled, shot straight through him, stripping away all the defenses he'd built up over the long, long years. Archon had heard his silent prayers then; the god certainly knew his thoughts now. He covered his face with his hands and didn't reply. He couldn't. All he could do was wait for his doom to be pronounced.

"I owe you, Acheron Parthenopaeus," the god said, and the completely unexpected words shocked Ash enough to break free of the immobility that held him. He looked up and found Archon smiling at him. His benevolence shone from his eyes, just as Ash had always imagined it would. Nothing in the world or beyond it could have shocked him more and he wondered if he'd imagined Archon's words.

The god laughed. "You heard correctly. I owe you."

"You owe me nothing," Ash managed hoarsely. "How could you? You know what I was, what I am. What I've done."

"I know what was done to you, what was forced on you, the wrongs you suffered," Archon corrected gently. "And I had every intention of freeing you. But I'm afraid I, along with the rest of the pantheon, were blindsided before I had the chance. You, I'm certain, know of this."

Ash shuddered at the memory of that horrible day—Atlantis falling into the sea, the gods slain in an unimaginable holocaust, masses of his people drowning and dying all around him, unable to save even one of them.

"Yes," Archon said, still smiling despite the horrendous memories he had to know had assailed Acheron. "The end came before I could do what I intended for you."

If it was possible, the news that the god had not only heard but planned to help him during his mortal life only made Acheron's pain worse. He wished Archon wouldn't talk about it anymore. Those wounds were too deep for healing, even after thousands of years, and the god was dredging them up from the deep pit where Ash had finally managed to bury them.

But if this was to be his punishment, Archon was doing a good job. Nothing in this world had the power to physically harm him anymore, but the memories Acheron faced now were a torture beyond any physical injury he could ever endure.

"You know that when a god loses all his followers, he fades to nothingness," Archon said, changing the subject as if hearing Ash's thoughts. And, Ash thought, he probably did.

"Yes, I know," Ash replied, wondering where Archon was heading with this, what pain would come next.

"That is why I owe you, Acheron," Archon said, throwing Ash off-guard again. "It is due to you that I am able to return, due to your continued belief. Even though I was unable to help you."

Archon strode forward, stopping before the alcove where Ash still knelt. Light poured from him, banishing the shadows that had once kept Ash hidden there. Archon bent, resting easily on his heels, putting himself level with Ash even as he knelt in disbelief before the god, unable to think of a thing to say to that.

But Archon didn't seem to need him to speak. "I am not the only Atlantean god to return. If you were to give it a few minutes thought, you could probably figure out who is already at work amongst mortals again, but our time here is limited and I know you dislike guessing games. You have been touched by Basi, Acheron."

Acheron groaned and covered his face with his hands again. It explained so much even as he felt like the heart he had just rediscovered was breaking. Basi was the goddess of desire and drunkenness, and she delighted in causing chaos in the mortal realm. If she had touched him, pushing him toward Maya, then nothing of what he felt for her was even real—he'd put himself here, at the mercy of a god _again_, for an illusion! Acheron barely kept from roaring out his anguish and loss.

Suddenly he felt comfort and compassion radiating from Archon like heat from a fire. "There is no need for your despair," Archon said gently. "You suffer now for no reason, Acheron. I did not draw you here for punishment, as you seem to think, although we will discuss my prohibition ere you go.

"No, Acheron, at last I find myself able to aid you as once I intended. Basi thought to make you wild with lust for all mortal women. Do you find this to be the case?"

Ash shook his head, shaking off the unreality of Archon's words. Why else would the god bring him here if not for punishment? None of this made any sense to him at all, but he tried to focus. No, he didn't want all women. "Only one," he said hopelessly. "Only Maya."

"And you feel only lust for her, is that it?"

Ash fought down the urge to shout a denial. One did not shout at Archon. "No, not only lust," he said through gritted teeth. "But what does it matter? Maya is yours. She is the one woman I can't have."

Archon laughed. "You are so sure of that, are you? Tell me, why do you think I chose the woman I did, Acheron? She has lived many times on Earth and yet you never found her. It is no coincidence that I guided her to you now." He waited until Ash met his glowing eyes with cautious hope before nodding. "Yes," he said softly, speaking to that hope. "You suspected it from the start. You knew the moment you first kissed her. Basi's curse is void should you find your fated mate. Maya is _yours_, Acheron, not mine. I stand by my decree that she know nothing of the forces that battle around her, and I have my reasons for that, but never did I forbid you to love her. How could you do otherwise? She was made for you, as you were for her."

Acheron could only gape at the god, completely taken off-guard. Nothing in the world could have shocked him more than this. Archon laughed again. "Go back," he said, rising and pulling Acheron to his feet as well. His touch was fire, electricity, sheer power. "Go back and love your woman. Give her all those things you dismissed as foolish dreams. She will need you during the trial to come. You have already discerned that things progress more rapidly than normal with her. She needs your reassurances now as well as your protection later."

Acheron noticed then that Archon was guiding him out the grand front entrance of the temple and his feet stumbled of their own accord. Archon only smiled at him, fully understanding. "Your days of hiding in the shadows were over long ago," he said quietly. "I will see you again, but not in dreams. Go now. The Dream-Hunter is waiting to guide you back."

Acheron turned, stepping toward the ornate archway. He stopped at the last moment and looked back. "Thank you," he said, the words feeling completely inadequate for the gratitude and awe that filled him.

Archon only nodded. "It is overdue," he said. Then those blazing eyes hardened for a bare instant, becoming cold as cruel vengeance itself. "Acheron, do not force me draw you to me for breaking my decree. I would be most disappointed in you."

Acheron found V'Edrix standing on the bottom step outside and nodded solemnly at the god, his heart in his throat. It took a lot to terrify Acheron, but one glance at Archon's eyes did it. He'd played with fire and had escaped death by a hair's breadth. He wouldn't make that mistake again.

V'Edrix studied Ash carefully, his dream-pale eyes sharp and observant, but he refrained from comment. He simply turned and led Ash back through the streets and out to the green Atlantean hills he'd once loved back when he could love freely, back to the one person on earth who inspired him to love now.


	14. Chapter 14

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Acheron woke to the cool kiss of air against his skin and the hot touch of Maya's hands.

He lay perfectly still, not letting the rhythm of his breathing change, simply reveling in her touch. Gods, what this woman did to him! He'd been hard all night just from the feel of her body beside him. Her touch was heaven itself. Her fingertips trailed lightly over his forehead, across his closed eyelids and down his cheek. It took every ounce of discipline he possessed not to sigh with pure pleasure when she traced his lips. She spread his hair out over the pillow, threading her fingers through it before taking a lock and running it over his lips again. The softness was both sensual and incredibly soothing. He lay still and silent, basking in pure bliss. No one had ever touched him this way, so tenderly, asking nothing in return.

And he was free to lie here and delight in it without fear of Archon's wrath. Free to love her, to hold her, to kiss and caress her until she was mindless with pleasure in his arms and he could drink those sweet cries of ecstasy straight from her lips again. But for now he feigned sleep, just soaking in the delight of Maya's touch, the precious curve of her body against his.

She shifted beside him and he let his arm fall away from her waist, feeling her prop herself on her elbow beside him before those wonderful fingers continued their wandering. Despite his best efforts, Ash couldn't keep his breathing from quickening as Maya caressed his chest, tracing the lines of his defined muscles and leaving fire in her wake. She took her time over the stylized dragon tattoo curling around his biceps and he fought not to gasp when she traced it with her tongue. Her lips brushed his so lightly he could almost have imagined it but for her breast pressing against him as she leaned over him, and he barely kept from moaning with the sweet torture.

Still he remained motionless, his face relaxed, not wanting to interrupt her leisurely exploration of his body. He was hers to do with as she would and he reveled in it. Her lips left his as he felt her weight shift ever so slightly. A sweet rush of anticipation swamped him as he wondered where those lips would land next, craving their touch on his throat or chest.

But when her mouth closed over his aching cock he cried her name aloud. Both hands flew up to grasp the headboard as his body arched on the bed. _By all the gods,_ the sheer heat of her soft mouth! Her tongue sliding and teasing along his length was an erotic bliss he'd never even dared to imagine. He couldn't seem to get enough air. When she chuckled low he felt the vibration through every nerve in his body, almost shooting him straight to orgasm, and he moaned in protest when she pulled away.

"I didn't _think_ you were asleep," she murmured in a tone of pure satisfaction before taking him deep into her mouth again.

Ash plunged his fingers into her hair and groaned as she ran her tongue around his head before blowing a hot breath across the hypersensitized skin. "How could I sleep with your hands on me?" he gasped, moaning again when she wrapped her fingers around him, caressing where her mouth couldn't reach. She did something with her tongue that almost made him come off the bed. It felt like every nerve in his body fired at once in a hot rush of sensation. His heart pounded madly. "Maya! Gods, woman, I can't—_ah!" _ He broke off when she did it again and his hips thrust helplessly, completely beyond his control. She laughed around him and stroked him with her mouth and hands, ignoring his hoarse pleas for mercy until he thought he would die from sheer pleasure. It was too much, it wasn't enough, it was torture and heaven all wrapped into one.

When he couldn't stand it anymore, he pulled her away with a groan, urging her up to claim that magical mouth with his. But Maya had other plans. Rather than following the urging of his hands in her hair, she kissed a slow trail up his body, sliding against him, nipping lightly at his collarbone before running her tongue up the strong column of his throat. He shuddered at a particularly sensitive spot and she fixated there, nibbling and suckling until his entire body shook. When she finally raised her head Ash kissed her with an intensity that left no doubt how completely she'd inflamed him.

Maya crossed her forearms on his chest and pulled back with a smile. "Good morning," she murmured, sounding very satisfied with herself.

Acheron could hardly breathe from the wealth of sensual promise in her voice. Thank the gods Archon had given him leave to make love to her, because right now there was no doubt at all in Ash's mind that he would have done it anyway. He'd never wanted a woman like this and he fully intended to drive her just as wild as she'd driven him. "It's about to get a whole lot better," he said, opening his eyes and fixing her with a passionate gaze. "You've had playtime. Now it's my turn."

Maya hardly seemed to hear his last words. For the first time she looked into his eyes, seeing the swirling blue and silver magic there, and her astonishment showed. No other ever born had eyes like his and Ash could have kicked himself for forgetting that she'd never seen them before.

Shock had a way of killing even the most erotic mood.

But Maya's face showed wonder, not the agitation or terror he'd feared but expected from her. She reached up and touched his face again, tracing his eyebrows with a fingertip. "Wow," she said softly. "You must be crazy to hide eyes this incredible!"

His heart kicked against his ribs. He couldn't believe her reaction. No one had ever looked at his eyes like this, as though they were beautiful instead of abnormal. "You're the first person to think so," Ash said softly. He couldn't stop his hands from stroking her back and noticed for the first time that she'd discarded her gown and panties at some point while he'd slept. The sensation of her bare skin was soft and absolutely intoxicating beneath his fingers. "Most people find them… disconcerting, to say the least."

Maya smiled and stretched, pressing that gorgeous body against him as she placed a gentle kiss upon each of his eyelids. "So you're telling me that right now, at this moment—" her thigh slid over his as her hand caressed his chest, "you're concerned about what other people think?"

Ash groaned at her touch and rolled on the bed, taking her beneath him. He could hardly believe she still wanted him after seeing his eyes. _She was made for you,_ the god's words echoed in his mind. _Maya is yours…_ "Never, love," Acheron murmured, lowering his head to find her favorite spot behind her ear even as he silently vowed to love her so thoroughly she'd never regret accepting him. "Only you, Maya. Only you."

She wrapped her arms around him and shivered at the wicked sensations his talented mouth evoked. "Good," she whispered, threading one hand through his long hair as the other explored his back. "Then I think you'd better not stop that."

He laughed against her skin. "Not even to do this?" he asked a bare second before he kissed a fiery trail down her throat to her breasts. Her gasp of pleasure sent a thrill of sheer joy through him. _It is time I fulfilled those promises I made to you,_ he murmured in her mind, sending a wave of erotic images to her, all the ways he intended to pleasure her, to melt and worship her.

"Oh God," Maya moaned, writhing under the double assault of his hot mouth on her skin and the wicked seduction he sent directly to her mind. "I don't think I'll survive that!"

Ash laughed again even as he at last dared to believe this was real, that she was in his arms, clinging to him. That she was truly his, a gift from the gods. _Trust me,_ he whispered in her mind. He left her soft skin and claimed her lips, making his kiss a sweet seduction, plundering her mouth as though he had all the time in the world to please her and fully intended to take it. She sighed and melted against him, tightening her arms around his bare shoulders as he felt the first tentative touch of her mind and tasted the joy he gave her.

The unexpected intimacy seared him to the core.

He'd never made love like this, his mind open to hers, feeling her pleasure as he fed her his own, tuning every touch to heighten her arousal until she was mindless with it and he burned from head to toe. He smiled and rolled away from her when she tried to wrap her legs around his waist and draw him into her, and she bit his shoulder in frustration. A bolt of heat shot through him at her wanton bite even as he resisted her. _Too soon,_ he told her, feeling her frustrated body screaming for release but knowing he could take her even higher. _Don't rush, love. It'll be better for the wait._

"Ash!" she moaned in protest. "Please!"

His name on her lips was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard. He kissed her, a full-blown meltdown of desire and erotic intent, sending her the vivid picture that had haunted his fantasies since their encounter on the motorcycle—Maya's lush body wrapped around him as he thrust deep inside her, feeling her body shudder and tighten around him as he brought her to climax again and again._ Would that please you, angel?_ he whispered in her mind. He traced a feather-light caress up her thigh in stark contrast to the wild vision and his devastating kiss. When his fingers found her she shivered and moaned, arching beneath him. _Does this please you?_

And then Ash was taken totally off-guard when a different image burst across his mind—Maya rising above him, sliding down and sheathing him to the hilt as he lay on his back beneath her, riding him hard and fast, her hair falling over them both, caressing his skin as she leaned forward to run her tongue along every taut muscle of his chest. _This would please me very well,_ she murmured back, her voice a hot seduction even in his mind. He shivered with the force of it and fought to maintain his iron control. Maya was using his own tricks against him, and it was the most powerful aphrodisiac he'd ever experienced.

And how he loved it!

He teased and stroked her, still kissing her with all the passion in his ancient heart, and when her orgasm finally came it shattered them both as she again shared her incredible pleasure with him. Ash broke the kiss at once, replacing his hand with his mouth and plunging two fingers inside her before the last wave crested, and the shock of the sudden switch sent her over the edge again. He moaned against her as she gave him the memory of her own mouth on him, and the deep reverberation only heightened the ecstasy he gave her. Every climax echoed straight from her through him, driving both of them crazy, and he was ruthless in drawing them from her.

When he was finished with her, she would never look at another man without thinking of Ash and the things only he could make her feel. His only thought to addict her to him, Ash lost himself in her taste, the sounds of her ecstasy, the explosions that rocked them both when she came again and again. With each burst of pleasure he burned and ached a little more but he denied himself. He would pleasure her until she was drunk with it. Only then would he introduce her to the ultimate ecstasy.

When he could hold out no longer, Ash left the sweet feast, leaving her on the edge of shattering again, crawling up her body like the predator he was. Maya watched him with eyes over-bright with an excess of exhilaration and her lush lips swollen from his kisses, her breath coming fast. She welcomed him with her gaze, too drained from the rapture he'd given her over and over to do more than that, gasping when he paused in his stalking to catch one taut nipple between his teeth. "Please," she whispered as his hands grasped her hips and he let his rigid length slide against her in a delicious caress that made her moan. "Please, Acheron!"

"Yes," he growled against her skin. He sat back on his knees and dragged her to him, reaching down to catch her beneath her neck and pull her against him. He held her easily with one arm around her waist, guiding her down until his swollen tip just pressed against her core. His other hand cupped the back of her head as he held her with his swirling eyes. _Tell me you want this,_ he demanded, his eyes an inferno of desire. _Look at me and tell me you want me!_

Maya wrapped her arms around his neck and met those burning eyes without hesitation. "You have to ask?" she whispered. "How could I not want you?"

In the next instant he was deep inside her, buried to the hilt, and the sensation was so intense that Maya threw her head back and cried out. Ash lowered her slowly back onto the bed, rising over her, still on his knees as he claimed that sexy throat with his lips and tongue. Maya writhed against him but he refused to move, instead reaching between their joined bodies to stroke her as he stayed still inside her.

She came almost at once, the feel of him hard and thick inside her as those agile fingers caressed her to oblivion almost more than she could stand. At the peak of her orgasm he finally began to move, driving her higher and higher, never ceasing to stroke her even as his mouth worked magic on her sensitive throat and breasts. All she could do was hang on for the most erotic ride of her life, her nails digging into his back as he kept her at the pinnacle, right at the peak of pleasure for so long she thought she would die from sheer joy. His climax, when it came, rocketed through her and sent her right back over the edge when she was sure nothing on earth could take her there again.

Acheron rolled with her when it was over, still buried deep within her, draping her over his chest. Maya couldn't even begin to think of moving. She'd lost count of how many times she'd come, some impossible number she wouldn't have believed had she not just lived it, and her body felt as wrung out and limp as a rag. _The man definitely knows how to keep a promise,_ she thought vaguely and knew she didn't even have the energy to whisper the words to him.

Ash laughed, the deep vibrations sending another aftershock of pleasure through her and making her moan. "I do hope you remember all of that promise," his voice rumbled beneath her ear.

And Maya shivered as his words echoed through her mind. _I'll please you so thoroughly that you can't move at all… and then I'll do it all over again._ She moaned at the very thought. "I wouldn't survive that again," she breathed against his chest. "I'm still not sure I survived this time!"

Acheron stroked her hair and kissed her forehead, reveling in the blissful satisfaction that permeated every corner of her mind. Oh, it was a joy to please this woman! _His woman._ He closed his eyes, savoring the sound of it and the heat of her body atop his.

Paradise.

Maya lay soft and yielding against him and he ran a hand down her back, loving the feel of her skin beneath his fingers, feeling her sigh and shudder when he cupped her bottom. "What if I let you have a nap first?" he teased just to feel her shiver again. He love the feel of it all along his body. "You'll need your energy because next time I plan to _really_ take you to the heavens."

_There can't possibly be more—that had to be a one-time thing,_ she thought in a daze but he caught it and just stopped himself from laughing out loud.

"Love," he murmured, unable to stop running his hands over her gorgeous body, "I can do that to you anytime you want me to. I promise you, that was not 'a one-time thing'."

"You're joking," she whispered.

Ash cupped her face between his hands and lifted her head so that she met his eyes. Hers were misty, glowing with satisfaction, and so sexy he felt himself stirring deep inside her. He rubbed his thigh against hers, already wanting her again. "Did I break my last promise to you?" he asked softly, moving his hips ever so slightly to make her whimper and moan again. Gods, he loved the sounds she made when he loved her! Her pleasure fired his own desire as much as her velvet tightness around him.

Maya bit her lip and closed her eyes, letting him take her to yet another climax, this one slow and sweet but no less intense for it. "You should be outlawed," she whispered breathlessly when it was over.

He laughed and tucked her securely against him. "Go to sleep, love," he murmured. "You'll need your strength because I plan to keep you here all day."


	15. Chapter 15

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

It took all his willpower to make himself leave Maya once she was deeply asleep, but Ash knew it had to be done. He'd just have to rush back as quickly as possible because everything in him protested missing a single instant of holding her in his arms. He couldn't put this off. If Kyrian and Nick hadn't already noticed she wasn't in her room they would soon enough, and he didn't particularly want a full-blown alert out on a woman who was sleeping safely in his bed.

Acheron smiled at the very thought. _His_ woman, resting safely in _his_ bed—a miracle he'd never believed would happen. His smile broadened. His very passionate woman, whom he'd delighted in satisfying beyond her wildest dreams. She still didn't quite believe that he could bring her to such heights again and again and he eagerly anticipated proving it to her. But first he had to avert this potential disaster.

Kyrian was running down the stairs when Ash pushed open the doors separating his wing from the rest of the house. He leapt the remaining distance to the floor when he saw him. "Ash! I'm glad you're here, man. Maya's—"

"Not in her room," Acheron interrupted. Gods, he'd gotten out here just in time. "Yes, I know. You haven't called out an alert, have you?"

Kyrian froze in his tracks and gaped at him, his jaw actually dropping. He looked like someone had just bashed him over the head with a sledgehammer. "What? Oh—no, no alert," he replied after a moment, as though he'd just remembered that he'd been asked a question. All the while he stood there staring like Acheron had grown a second head.

Ash frowned. "What's your problem?"

Kyrian shrugged and looked down at his feet like an embarrassed schoolboy before glancing up again, eyes twinkling. "Do you know you have a hickey?" he asked with a wicked grin that would have gotten him fried had Ash not currently been in such a benevolent mood toward the world in general.

Ash rolled his eyes and pressed a finger to the passion mark on his neck. There was a slight tingle as it vanished. He'd just have to let Maya put another one on him later—the things that woman could do with her mouth defied belief, and he loved every single one. His temperature rose several degrees as he remembered vividly how she'd awakened him. "Do I pass muster now, Dad?" he asked Kyrian acidly.

Kyrian threw back his head and laughed. "Damn, Ash, if you don't take all," he said. "You don't even deny it! And you said we weren't to let her meet any Dark-Hunters. If this doesn't count as meeting one, what does?"

"Kyrian…" Ash warned.

He cackled with delight. "That must've been some introduction for you to end up with a love bite! Hey, wait, aren't _you_ supposed to be the one who bites?"

Acheron rolled his eyes again. "Are you finished?"

"Not by a long shot," Kyrian assured him, still grinning from ear to ear.

"Well, resume later if you must," Ash growled before turning toward the den. "I have work to do."

But the former Dark-Hunter followed him with that evil gleam in his eyes. "Poor Nick, he's gonna have a coronary," Kyrian said as Ash flipped on the computer and started typing. "Hey, does this mean he'll have to give you permission to date her? I can see it now—Ash, the prospective boyfriend. You'll get to sit in the living room with him and get the third degree before you two can leave the house." Then he laughed again. "Hmm, but maybe you'd rather _not_ leave the house at that…"

"Kyrian, you're getting on my last nerve," Ash warned. But in reality he was too damn happy to get angry and apparently Kyrian sensed that because he showed no signs of letting up in his teasing. Acheron did his best to ignore Kyrian as he logged on to the Dark-Hunter website and initiated a background check on Maya's former boyfriend Jay. He wanted to know when the Apollite was due to turn.

"Hey, Ash?" Kyrian said, sobering for a moment.

"What now, mortal underling?" Ash shot back. "You're ready to investigate the afterlife?"

Kyrian leaned against the edge of the over-large computer desk and looked down at him. "On a more serious note—"

"That's a relief."

"—what about Archon?" Kyrian finished, unperturbed by the interruption. "You're a pain in the ass, but I think we'd all miss you if you got destroyed."

Acheron leaned back in the chair and looked up at Kyrian. The dream-meeting with the god felt too personal to share, but Kyrian was right to ask and he deserved some kind of explanation. Finally Ash sighed and gave him the bare bones. "V'Edrix brought me before the god, Kyrian. Archon has no problem with this."

Kyrian's jaw dropped. "You're sure?"

"You think I'd endanger her? That I'd make a move if I wasn't sure?"

"No, no, of course not," Kyrian said at once, waving away Ash's flare of temper. Then he grinned again and clapped Ash on the shoulder. "Well, I'm happy for you, man. What are the other Hunters gonna do when you have your soul back? Just please, please don't leave Zarek in charge, okay?"

Ash jerked as if he'd been touched with a live wire. "No one said anything about souls," he all but growled as he knocked Kyrian's hand away.

Kyrian's eyebrows rose at his vehemence. He was silent for a long moment before straightening and staring down at Ash. "I see," he said finally, all traces of teasing gone from his voice.

Acheron glared at him. "And just what, exactly, do you see?"

Kyrian shrugged but his eyes were anything but nonchalant. "That I was wrong," he said simply, stepping back and crossing his arms. "Be careful, Ash. It may be a fling to you, but I caught what she felt for you last night. You could hurt her bad, man."

Ash stood so abruptly that the desk chair crashed back. "You don't know a damned thing about it," he snarled, looming over Kyrian, fangs bared in unmistakable aggression and swirling eyes sharp with fury. The man had never taken kindly to anyone knowing anything about his private life and Kyrian knew he'd crossed a dangerous line.

But he didn't retreat in the face of Ash's fierce threat even though seeing the Atlantean lose his temper was something few people survived. Kyrian had taken Maya under his protection the night she arrived and he couldn't just stand here and say nothing when there was such an overwhelming possibility of her getting hurt. "All right, so I don't know anything," he said, meeting Ash's furious gaze without flinching. "Care to enlighten me?" He fully expected Ash to freeze him with silence or order him to get the hell out of his sight. Getting anything personal from Ash was more difficult than pulling dragon's teeth.

So it almost knocked him over when Ash dropped his mental shields and let Kyrian feel the tumult of emotions he felt for Maya. Fierce possessiveness, pure adoration, endless desire, sheer joy, such warmth that it made the room heat. Kyrian put a hand out to brace himself against the wall as he stared at Acheron in shock. "By the gods, Ash, you're in love with her," he whispered.

The tidal wave of emotion vanished as Ash turned away, bending down to pick up the chair without bothering to reply.

"Why wouldn't you ask for your soul, then?" Kyrian pressed.

Ash set the chair back on its wheels and sighed. "One does not simply request a soul from Artemis, Kyrian," he said as though explaining the painfully obvious. "It's not to be had just for the asking. There's a price for everything."

Kyrian wondered suddenly what the price of his own soul had been. Wondered who had paid.

Ash met his eyes coldly, clearly still angry that Kyrian had even dared to think that he would hurt Maya. "Who do you think?"

Kyrian dropped his hand from the wall and stood up straight, every inch the warrior prince he had once been before his death. "Then it is my honor to do the same for you," he said without a moment's hesitation. "Summon the goddess, Ash."

Acheron closed his eyes as if the mere thought was painful. His anger was extinguished instantly at Kyrian's blind generosity, but he shook his head. "No, Kyrian," he said, his tone emotionless in contrast to the vortex of feeling that had almost knocked Kyrian over. "Thank you, but no. You have no idea what you're volunteering for, and I have no idea what she would ask of you."

"What did she ask of you?"

"That is between me and her," Ash said. Kyrian caught the briefest impression of pain and despair, as though Ash's shield wasn't quite strong enough contain the volatile memories, before they were choked off. Acheron met his eyes. "The price for one of you would be nothing compared to the price for me, Kyrian. Believe me in this. It's not possible."

"So you won't even try?"

There was a loud crack and Kyrian realized that Ash had been gripping the back of the chair so hard it broke under his hand. "No," Ash said, his voice so low it was almost inaudible. "I'll spend every prayer I have that the goddess never finds out that Maya exists."

Kyrian didn't know why it would be that Ash should be the only Dark-Hunter who could never redeem his soul, but Ash was the exception in many ways. He could walk in daylight, could be in the presence of the gods without being vaporized on sight, could hide his fangs at will. He possessed powers that made the rest of them look like toddlers on a playground. If his slip of the tongue the night they'd found out about Archon was to be believed, Acheron had not only been a Shade but had done the impossible and _come back_ from that cursed existence. No, Acheron was no ordinary Dark-Hunter, and if he said Artemis would never release him it was likely the truth.

"All right, Ash," Kyrian said, letting the subject drop. It had to be unutterably painful to find the one who should be able to free him and know that such freedom was impossible. An immortal Dark-Hunter and a mortal woman could not live happily ever after. She would die eventually and Ash would live on alone.

Forever.

Kyrian ached for him and looked for a change of subject. He wouldn't continue to rub salt in the wound. "Tell you what. I'll find some extracurricular activity for Nick and get him out of here for a few days so you don't have to deal with him. Sound like a plan?"

"Now you think I can't handle a Squire?"

Kyrian laughed at his offended tone. "What, you mean like the way you just handled me?" he shot back. He met Acheron's glare with a smile. "Take what peace you can get, Ash," he added softly.

Ash looked back at the screen and nodded after a moment. "Send him out if you have a job for him," he said without looking up. Kyrian wasn't offended. In Acheron's place, he'd have a hard time accepting anything from another, wanting what was offered but refusing to take anything given in pity.

Then Ash glanced up at Kyrian with a glint in his swirling eyes. "It'll give you one less ally when I decide to get you back for that remark about leaving Zarek in charge."


	16. Chapter 16

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya woke shivering.

She stretched, smiling at the delicious soreness in unaccustomed places, before reaching for Ash. But the bed was empty and she opened her eyes with a frown.

She saw him at once, leaning against the dresser and watching her with those extraordinary silver-blue eyes, his black hair still damp from his shower and wearing only a towel around his waist. Her breath caught at the sight of him, so tall and magnificent. "What are you doing way over there?" she murmured, holding out a hand to him.

Acheron straightened with a lazy, predatory grace that made her tingle all over. "Watching you," he said softly.

Maya smiled. "And you pulled the covers off me, too?"

He stopped at the end of the bed and reached down to capture her foot in his hand. "The better to see you, my dear," he growled.

She shivered again at the heat in his eyes and held out her arms. "Well, come see me over here," she invited with a slow, sleepy smile. "I'd rather have you than a blanket to keep me warm any day."

He dropped the towel and knelt beside her feet. "Trust me, love," he said, his voice a sensual seduction all its own, "I plan on warming you up all over."

He started right there at her feet. By the time he'd worked his way up to her knees, Maya felt like he'd lit an inferno inside her and she was begging for more, but Ash refused to be rushed. Surely he couldn't really expect to repeat that marathon they'd just shared!

_I told you it wasn't just once,_ he murmured in her mind as he nipped her inner thigh before tracing a fiery pattern there with his tongue. _Every time, Maya. I will make it like this for you every time._

And he proceeded to prove it to her with enthusiasm.

Maya actually thought she would faint at the end of it, the pleasure was so intense. Only Acheron's mind firmly anchored in hers kept her from floating away, making sure she didn't miss a single instant of the ecstasy he gave her. "You're amazing," she whispered an eternity later when she had the strength to do so again.

He chuckled softly. "You inspire me," he murmured against her hair.

But insecurity started to creep in as she lay there against him, his hands stroking her back as she listened to his heart beat beneath her cheek. How in the world could she ever hope to keep a man like this? He was young, he was gorgeous and he was fascinating. Not to mention that the man knew every possible way to make love, to give pleasure, to make her feel like a goddess—what could she possibly give him to compare with what he gave her? It was only a matter of time before he moved on to someone younger, someone who didn't have a baby to worry about.

Ash rolled with her, pinning her under him as though hearing the thought in her head. "Never. I will never leave you. Don't even think it, Maya," he whispered. He took her hand and pressed it over his pounding heart. "_Cara mia_, this is what you give me, what no one else has ever given me. Can't you feel it?"

She looked up at him in wonder, feeling his love for her suddenly flood her mind. And damn, how he loved her! It blew her away. She tried to do what he did, tried to send him the emotions that swept through her when she looked at him. His eyes closed and he rested his forehead against hers, an expression of pure rapture on his face. "You are far beyond any goddess, Maya, and I don't deserve you," he whispered.

She reached down and smacked that tight derriere of his that drove her crazy, delighting in the shiver that ran through him. "Don't ever say that again," she said, trying to imitate his intimidating growl.

Acheron laughed and kissed her. "A man's not allowed to speak the truth?"

She started to spank him again, but somehow it turned into a lingering caress instead. "Are you trying to convince me of something? You aren't by any chance trying to run me out of your bed, are you?" she asked suspiciously.

His thigh immediately covered both of hers and his hands tightened on her shoulders as he pinned her on the bed beneath him. "Try to get away," he dared her, his eyes twinkling.

Maya laughed and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Even if I wanted to, I already know I can't," she sighed in mock-resignation. "You didn't leave me enough energy." She smiled and just watched the colors play and change in his eyes. "You know, I think I like having a psychic lover. I like knowing what you're thinking while we're making love—they're such interesting thoughts!"

He kissed her lightly, sending her a quick fantasy involving the shower just to hear her moan into his mouth. "Hmm, you like that one, I take it?" he asked, grinning.

In the fantasy he still held, Maya suddenly reached down with her soap-slick hands and cupped him, stroking and fondling him until his ears rang with desire. "What do you think?" she murmured back.

He growled and nuzzled her neck. "I think I like the way your mind works, too."

She sighed and ran a hand down his back. Even as thoroughly sated as she was, she couldn't help running her hands over all that gorgeous skin. The man was built like a god! "Unless you can levitate me into the shower, though, it'll have to wait," she said regretfully. "I don't think my legs are working again yet." Then she pulled back and looked into his eyes again. "_Can_ you do things like that? I mean, I know you're telepathic, but I get the feeling there's much more to you than that."

Acheron went very still and serious in her arms. Maya bit her lip, regretting the question at once, but he only touched her face gently. "If you ask me again, I'll tell you, and it will be the truth," he said softly. "I'll never lie to you, Maya. But I don't think you should ask me." His eyes were molten mercury as he looked at her. "Not yet."

Maya looked at him for a long moment, torn between curiosity—_the bane of my existence—_and caution. Finally she decided on one, very small, yes or no question. "Are you something that will hurt me?" she asked in a voice that she couldn't quite keep from trembling. She loved him—and it stunned her how fast that had happened—and though she couldn't imagine anything ever changing that, the power ran off him in torrents right now and she had to know.

Acheron shook his head at once. "Never," he said vehemently. "I swear it, Maya. I would die to keep you and the life you carry safe."

She let out the breath she hadn't realized she was holding in a shuddering sigh and tried to smile at him. "I guess that's all that matters, then," she managed. But her thoughts refused to stop spinning and let her return to the half-sleepy bliss of before. What was it that he feared revealing? What could be terrible enough that he so obviously thought she'd run if he told her? The barest hint of fear brushed the base of her spine.

Ash fell onto his side and pulled her tightly into his arms. "Maya, don't ever fear me," he whispered as he showered kisses on her cheek, her throat, her soft mouth. "You will never have any reason to fear me. I would do anything in the world for you, love."

She bit back the hundreds of questions that wanted to pour out and rested her head on his chest. His muscles rippled around her as he held her close, but his touch was unfailingly gentle. She loved that about him, his great strength tempered with tenderness, and something instinctive told her that she was the only one who had ever seen this side of him.

But then she thought back to the night before when she had come downstairs to find him sitting in the kitchen, calm and unworried while blood dripped from half a dozen gunshot wounds on his back.

It was that side of him that frightened her. "It's dangerous, what you do," she murmured. "I'm not asking what it is," she added hurriedly before he could tell her. "I won't press you to reveal your secrets until you're ready, Ash. But—will you promise me that you'll be as careful as you can?"

_Always, love._ His voice in her mind was absolute assurance, pure conviction. Then, hesitantly, _Will I have you to come home to?_

His hesitation, his nervousness at even asking the question melted her heart. She couldn't reach to swat that gorgeous rear again so she bit his shoulder instead. "You think some little secret would make me run off? You're not getting rid of me that easy."

Ash could almost have laughed at her phrasing. A _little_ secret? He was an eleven thousand year old immortal, had sold his soul to a goddess, possessed powers that made every other immortal's look like mere parlor tricks, spent his nights hunting soul-sucking vampires, and was concealing from Maya the fact that her baby was a reincarnated Atlantean god. That was hardly a _little_ secret. He only hoped she could forgive him when Archon was born and he was free to tell her everything.

Thinking of the baby led him to check how things were doing. Archon's words that "things were progressing rapidly" had been pushed to the background of Ash's mind by the revelation that he was free to love Maya, but now that she lay soft and sated in his arms they returned to him with a vengeance. Ash sent a tiny thread of power through her body, checking the child.

Only the discipline of ages kept him from cursing in shock. He'd checked just yesterday and thought her around five months. Now, a day and a half later, the pregnancy had progressed to a point more closely corresponding with five and a half.

"Maya," he murmured, knowing that this couldn't be kept from her. Archon himself had pointed out that she would need reassurance. "Are you feeling all right? The baby's not bothering you at all?"

Maya stirred in his arms and he realized she'd almost been asleep. "Kicks a lot," she murmured drowsily. "Hurts a little sometimes, but I think that's normal. Why do you ask?" She yawned on the last word.

He closed his eyes, wondering if he should tell her or wait for her to notice on her own. _Tell her,_ a voice in his head urged, and Ash recognized Archon's touch in it. "Your child grows faster every day," he said as gently as he could. "Love, when did you think this baby might be born?"

Maya raised her head, confusion warring with alarm in her eyes at his strange question, all traces of sleep gone. "By my math, I should be just at four months now," she said. Her entire body was rigid. "Is there something wrong with my baby, Ash? I don't care how you know, if there's something wrong I want you to tell me."

Ash stroked her hair. "Shh, love, your baby's fine," he soothed. "Strong and perfect in every way." Which only made sense because the baby was a god, but that little fact he absolutely could not tell her. Archon had made _that_ abundantly clear.

She still looked at him with fear clouding her gaze. "You asked me about this for a reason," she persisted. "Tell me!"

Acheron cupped her face in his hands and chose his words with care. "You asked what else I can do. Like the man you saw last night, I too can heal, and the night you arrived I attended you and your baby. When you arrived you were just under four months, like you thought." He leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "You're more like five and a half now, Maya."

"That's impossible!" Maya gasped. "I wasn't—there was no man then!" Then she jerked as the full import of his words sank in. "No, that's not possible," she repeated, this time in a whisper. "You're wrong, Ash. You have to be. I've only been here a week. You're trying to tell me—"

"Your baby has packed about six weeks of growth into that week," Ash finished for her. She shuddered and tried to pull away. He wouldn't let her go. "Talk to me, Maya," Ash demanded, trying to touch her mind and finding it alarmingly chaotic. Panic wasn't something this woman normally gave in to. "Maya?"

"It's—it's unnatural," she breathed, and the terror in her voice tore his heart. "There's something wrong. Something's wrong!"

"No, I swear to you, the baby is fine," Ash repeated.

She shoved against his chest, trying to get him to release her. "Did you do this?" she demanded furiously. "Did you do something to me—use your magic, whatever it is you have, on me?"

Acheron sat up in bed, bringing her with him, still refusing to let go. "Stop this, Maya," he said firmly. "You're frightening yourself for no reason. No, I did nothing to you or the child. This is how this baby is meant to develop. I can't explain it any better than that, but you have to believe me. Everything is going as it's meant to. There is _nothing_ wrong with your baby."

Her hand rested over the life inside her and she sat frozen against him for a long time. Then she finally looked up and met his eyes again. "I don't want you to be telling me the truth," Maya whispered. "But I'm showing now, and I wasn't when I got here." Ash was quiet, just holding her, stroking her hair and her back. At last she admitted it. "It scares me," she whispered.

Ash kissed her, a soft, slow kiss to comfort her and ease her fears. "I won't let anything happen to you," he promised against her lips. "Or your baby. I swear it."

"Don't promise that. Some things are beyond your control," Maya replied even as she melted into his strength.

_Not many,_ Ash thought, and wished he dared to say it aloud. But the memory of the glimpse of Archon's eyes when the god had considered what he would do to Ash if he broke the god's injunction held him back. He tightened his arms around her and lay back, drawing her down across his chest, holding her close. No, he had too much to live for right here. He wouldn't tempt the god's wrath again.

He only worried how Maya would cope with the loss of her child when Archon was born. She wanted this baby desperately—it screamed through every thought in her head right now—but the god had His own agenda and spending eighteen years as a normal child in Maya's care wasn't likely to be part of it. Acheron sighed and kissed the top of her head. For the first time in his life he wished he had the ability to father children, but even before becoming a Dark-Hunter that had been taken from him. In his mortal life, everything he had ever wanted or valued had been taken from him.

But no one would take Maya from him now. He smiled tightly as she finally drifted off to sleep in his arms and knew the expression was feral, possessive. Archon had been wise to use the woman Acheron had been destined to love as his vessel. No force in the world could defeat him, no matter how powerful, and no one else on earth had as much power to keep her safe.

And keep her safe he would, no matter what it took. Even as she slept he began to weave spells around her. Nothing would touch her unless it went through him first.

Acheron had every intention of obliterating anything that tried.


	17. Chapter 17

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon. And HAPPY FATHER'S DAY to all you dads out there!  
**

Nick complained loudly and in great length about the chore Kyrian thought up for him—delivery of a package to the Dark-Hunter patrolling El Paso, Texas. Kyrian told him the package couldn't be flown there because its contents were extremely sensitive to changes in air pressure, and absolutely couldn't be trusted to normal postal carriers. "I'm a Squire, not a damn courier!" Nick had yelled, glaring at Kyrian. "And your timing sucks ass. My sister needs me here!"

"Nick, from what I've seen, your sister could kick your ass with one hand tied behind her back before her morning coffee," Kyrian drawled. "I think she'll manage to survive the weekend without your protection."

"That's not what I meant and you know it," Nick growled, looking pointedly into the kitchen where Maya had demanded to help Acheron. Kyrian refrained from commenting, which only made Nick scowl more. "And anyway, I don't even work for you anymore now that you're human and mortal—you can't make me drive all the way out to BFE, Texas!"

Kyrian held that glare without flinching before grabbing Nick with his power and levitating him a couple of feet off the floor. "Wanna bet?"

Nick tossed a suitcase into his trunk an hour later, still griping. "And you keep my sister away from Ash," he yelled over his shoulder at Kyrian as he stowed the "fragile" package in the front seat of his Jag. "Tell him to stay the hell away from her!"

Kyrian choked back a laugh, remembering the hickey. It was way past too late for that, but he wasn't about to tell Nick that. The stubborn Squire really wouldn't leave if he even had an inkling of what Kyrian knew about _that_ particular situation. "I'll make sure and call you the instant I develop the ability to tell Acheron anything," he said dryly instead.

Nick scowled. "She doesn't need to go from an abusive jerk to falling for a soulless Dark-Hunter," he persisted. "She doesn't know any better and she'll think he can feel something back for her. You had sisters, Kyrian. Don't let it happen. I'm asking you as a friend."

If Nick only knew… the intensity of what Ash felt for the sister Nick was trying to protect still made Kyrian's head buzz. Kyrian knew he had to cut Nick's tirade off before he died from the effort of holding the information in—he liked Nick and always had, but if he gave Nick the reassurance that Acheron not only could but did love Maya, Ash just might expire _him_. Survival outweighed friendship in this case.

"I'll do what I can," he said to stop Nick from digging the hole any deeper. _Which is absolutely nothing, Nick, my lad. Sorry._ "Now get on the road already! That needs to be there by tomorrow night."

Ash rolled his eyes and shook his head when Kyrian found him in the den and told him the errand he'd sent Nick on. "So what's in this package, anyway?" he asked as he searched the Dark-Hunter website for the results of his query on Jay. There was nothing. "He'd have figured out an empty box, you had to have put something in there."

Kyrian let loose the laughter that had been threatening to choke him. "One of Marissa's rattles, a snow-globe, a bag of flour for weight, and a note to the El Paso Hunter explaining why it got sent to him," he chuckled gleefully. "Even if Nick decides to shake it, which I told him not to do under any circumstances, he'll just be confused as all heck. The trip should take him at least the weekend, though," he added.

Ash just nodded, not trusting himself to speak to thank Kyrian for his kindness.

When he returned to Maya, half-asleep and totally contented in his bed, he found her suitcases waiting beside the door. He just shook his head at Kyrian's not-so-subtle actions but couldn't repress his smile. Maya blushed so beautifully when he carried them inside that he had to make love to her again, ignoring her protests that she couldn't possibly have even one more orgasm. "It's just not possible," she moaned in his ear as he slid slowly, deeply into her.

But it was, and she could, and he made certain she did. Multiple times.

When they left the bedroom much later they found to their surprise that Kyrian and Amanda had taken the baby and vacated the house. Ash knew that if they'd even hinted at it to him he would've vetoed it, but secretly he was deeply touched that they'd even thought of it. The weekend suddenly stretched out before him like a reprieve in paradise.

He owed Kyrian for this. He owed the man big-time.

In his entire life, the long, long time that it was, Acheron had never taken any time off for himself and it felt both wonderful and completely strange not to go out hunting. But he didn't, trusting Talon and Valerius to keep the city safe. His every waking moment was given to Maya.

The three days that he and Maya were alone passed far to quickly for Acheron. He found a peace he'd never before experienced in her arms, an acceptance in her eyes that never failed to melt him utterly. If he could have had any wish in the world, Ash would have wished for those three days to last for eternity.

But he'd learned long ago not to waste energy on wishes. If the gods heard him at all, those wishes just told them where to strike first. No, he would just treasure every moment and remember it forever without asking for anything more.

When Kyrian and Amanda came home at midafternoon on the third day, Maya tried hard not to blush at the sound of the front door opening. She jumped up from Ash's lap and paced, giving herself a mental pep-talk.

So they had to have known what she and Ash had been doing; so what? They obviously didn't disapprove or they wouldn't have taken off and given the two of them free run of their home. Still, her resolution not to blush went right out the window when Ash glanced up from across the living room, the tiniest of wicked grins on his face the only indication that he knew what she was thinking, and started sending her vivid memories of what he'd done to her in the hot tub an hour before.

Maya snatched up one of the decorative pillows from the couch and threw it at him just as Kyrian and Amanda stopped in the doorway to greet them. "Now you just quit that!" she demanded, sending the image of a bucket of icewater being dumped in his lap straight to his mind. She laughed out loud at his expression of outrage and didn't even hear Amanda Hunter gasping in surprise at their antics.

He caught the pillow and gave her an extremely evil grin as he tucked it behind his head. "Come make me," he challenged, deliberately giving her ever more erotic images as he lounged in the armchair, totally relaxed while he made her burn. When her cheeks flushed even darker the scene abruptly changed.

Skinny-dipping—in the Arctic.

She sucked in a breath at the cold so deep it could practically give her frostbite just from the thought. "Oh, I am so gonna get you now," Maya threatened, completely forgetting about the other couple standing in the doorway as she stalked him with another pillow ready in her hand.

Acheron ducked her first swing and caught her around the waist when she got within an arm's reach of him, pulling her down onto his lap. He was vaguely aware of the others going back and forth in the entryway, carrying in the baby and their bags, and but most of his attention was needed to duck the pillow and keep Maya's tickling fingers away from his ribs. He laughed out loud when she sent him the image of him lying helpless while she tickled him with a fan of feathers. "That's not fair!" he protested.

"Hey, buster, you started it, not me." Then she yelped as he turned, pinned her in the chair, and tickled her mercilessly. "Oh, no! Stop—help!"

Only when Amanda had dragged Kyrian upstairs to help her with Marissa did she dare to say a word about the pair downstairs. "Can you believe him?" she whispered, ever conscious of the heightened hearing all the Dark-Hunters possessed. "Did you _see_ that?" She still couldn't believe she'd actually witnessed Acheron Parthenopaeus, the frightening and mysterious leader of the Dark-Hunters, laughing as he tickled a squealing Maya. Her brain just refused to comprehend it.

Kyrian grinned at her. "I told you," he said smugly. "He loves her."

She put the sleeping baby in her crib before wrapping her arms around her husband's waist. "It's about time someone made that man laugh," she said quietly. "I don't think anyone's ever just played with him like that in his entire life. You're a good man, Kyrian, to make sure they had some time alone."

He just smiled and kissed her. "After everything he did for us, do you really think a little weekend honeymoon is so much?"

Her eyes widened. _"Honeymoon?"_ she echoed in disbelief. "You mean—"

Kyrian laughed. "Well, maybe not honeymoon in the traditional newlywed sense," he admitted. "But don't forget, he showed me what he feels for her and it's a forever kind of thing. Trust me, I know—it's what I feel for you."

Downstairs the war of images progressed, Maya still trying to get her hands free and tickle Ash even as she engaged fully in the battle of minds, until they were both laughing helplessly. At least, Maya was helpless, and Ash used the brief opportunity to lock her hands down at last. "Ah, you're mine now!" he gloated.

Maya grinned. "But you already knew that," she pointed out. "I've been yours for a while now, you know."

He couldn't help but smile even more broadly at that. "Only fair since I'm yours," he said before leaning down to kiss her. She tried to free her hands but he didn't let her, feeling that spark of mischief still glowing bright in her mind. _Tut tut, _he thought even as he devoured those sweet lips. _No more tickling, love._

When he finally pulled away she rained kisses all over his face. "I just wanted to put my arms around you," she complained with a smile. "Don't you trust me?"

Acheron had to laugh at that loaded question. "I know exactly what you wanted," he said, pinning her wrists to his chest with one hand. "You can't fool me, young lady."

Maya rolled her eyes. "Young lady?" she echoed with a very unladylike snort. "You're a fine one to talk. What about _you?"_

"I'm not a lady at all," he said with a grin. "You should know that by now."

She bit his shoulder to punish him for his teasing. He loved it when she did that and she knew it. "You know what I mean, you goof-ball. I'm twenty-eight; what am I doing with you, toy boy? You should be calling me ma'am and offering to mow the lawn or something!"

_Goof-ball? Toy boy?_ Acheron laughed again, he couldn't help it. She delighted him. No one else would dare to address him as anything so blatantly foolish but Maya didn't even think twice about it. He loved that she didn't fear his reaction to her teasing in the least.

And her remarks about his age were hilarious. Yes, it was true that he looked about twenty-one, but it still struck him as ridiculous that Maya thought she was the 'older woman.' He slid a hand up her thigh. "I think _or something_ sounds much more interesting than the lawn, ma'am," he murmured in her ear.

She wiggled on his lap, trying to escape his hand. He sucked in a breath at the movement and inched his hand higher to make her do it again. She did and he fought the urge to moan. "Quit that, we're not alone here anymore," she whispered, oblivious for once to the effect she had on him. He cupped her through her jeans, still grinning. "Hey!" she cried in mock-outrage even as her cheeks flushed and her breathing quickened. "Don't you have any respect for your elders?"

He didn't _have_ any elders unless he counted the gods, and even if he did count them, he certainly didn't respect them. "Nope, none at all," Acheron said cheerfully, sliding his hand up to cup her breast. "And I hate to disappoint you, love, but you are so far off in your estimation of my age," he said as he ran his thumb back and forth over her taut nipple.

She shivered but refused to be distracted. "You're sure of that? You're what, twenty? Twenty-two?"

Ash bit his lip to keep from laughing. "Nope."

"Okay, now that's not fair. How old—"

He cut her off with a kiss that curled her toes, still pinning her wrists with one hand while the other rose from her breast to tangle in her hair. One kiss became two, and he fought the desire to unbutton her blouse and explore the treasures within. If he didn't stop this soon he'd have to carry her back to their room and finish it right. He was finding that he was completely insatiable where she was concerned. "You don't want to do that," he whispered against her lips when he was finally able to pull away. "Trust me. You absolutely do not want to ask that question."

Maya pulled back and stared at him. "Am I gonna go to jail for contributing to the delinquency of a minor or something?"

Kyrian just happened to be walking by in time to catch her last comment and burst out laughing. Acheron looked up at him, still smiling. "Kyrian, keep your mouth shut," he warned. "This is not a round-table discussion. Comments from the peanut gallery are not welcome."

Kyrian waved a hand before wiping his eyes. "Like I even know anyway," he said. "I couldn't tell her if I wanted to. But can you at least clear up the minor thing? It'll bug me until you do." He laughed again, bracing a hand against the wall for support.

Amanda paused at the foot of the stairs, staring at her snickering husband. "Who put a quarter in you?" she asked as he broke into fresh gales of laughter.

"Maya thinks Ash is a minor," he cackled.

Ash rolled his eyes. "Go away, Kyrian," he invited. Then he looked down at Maya, who was watching their discussion much too closely for his comfort. It was definitely time for a little diversion. "I'm not a minor, Maya," he said, more to get Kyrian laughing again and distract her than to give out any real information.

Kyrian cracked up again and after a second Amanda joined in. Then she winked at Acheron and once more attempted to pull him out of a tight spot. "I thought you said your last birthday at home was twenty-one," she said.

He could have kissed her. Back home in Atlantis, she meant. The last birthday he'd had there was indeed his twenty-first, right before he'd been killed and sold his soul for Vengeance. "That's right," he said, sending her a grateful look when Maya wasn't looking. It was a fine distinction, but maybe it would work.

But when Maya looked back at him Ash knew she wasn't convinced. _I won't push for your secrets,_ she murmured in his mind. _I promised you I wouldn't. But it freaks me out a little that you don't even want me to know how old you are, Acheron. _

_Don't let it,_ he sent back, resting his forehead against hers. "It's just a number," he whispered. A really, really big number, he thought a little desperately. "Does age really matter?"

One corner of her mouth quirked up in that little half-grin that he so adored. It was an effort to keep his attention on her words instead of claiming those sexy lips and kissing her senseless. "Careful, now, you can get your man-card revoked for that," she said, winking at him even as she let him off the hook. "That is the biggest chick line ever. I just want to be sure you realize that you did, in fact, whip out a chick line."

They all laughed. "All right, I used a chick line, I admit it," Ash said. "Happy?"

Maya smiled at him. "I'll use the guy line then," she teased. "No, dear, of course your age doesn't matter." Then as Amanda and Kyrian headed upstairs to unpack, still chuckling, she met his eyes again. "Not being a guy, I don't know if guys mean it or not."

His smile faded and he cupped her face in his hands, finally releasing her wrists. "Do _you_ mean it?"

Maya closed her eyes and sighed. "As long as you're legal, I guess I'm fine," she whispered. "But I'm getting the feeling that _too young_ isn't the problem here."

Acheron didn't say anything. He meant what he'd said earlier. He wouldn't volunteer anything, but if she asked, he would tell her the truth. But he really, really hoped she wouldn't ask.

Finally she looked back up at him. "So if Nick wasn't off on the National Lampoons vacation with Kyrian and Amanda," she said, changing the subject to Ash's immense relief, "where is he? Do you people have my brother locked up in a dungeon somewhere?"

Oh, now there was a tempting idea! Ash shook his head even as he contemplated it. The next time Nick smarted off… "Did you know there are wild geese in El Paso?" he asked conversationally, threading his fingers through her long hair.

Maya gave him a look even as she laughed. "And this affects Nick how?"

He grinned. "Kyrian sent him off chasing one."


	18. Chapter 18

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

When Nick arrived a few hours later he was tired, cranky, and just waiting to lay into Kyrian the second he found the former Hunter. He'd obviously driven like a madman to make the trip as fast as humanly possible, and Acheron could almost feel sorry for him.

But then Maya shifted in his arms and he bent to press a soft kiss to the side of her neck, remembering all the things they'd done together over the last three days. The loving, the laughter, the simple peace she made him feel just with her presence. She turned her head and kissed him before turning back to her book, asking nothing of him but to simply be there beside him. All the things he could do for her, and she didn't even know it and by some miracle she wanted him anyway. Gods, he loved her.

No, on second thought, Ash didn't feel sorry for Nick at all.

"Kyrian, next time you want a box driven across Texas, do it yourself," Nick grumbled as he entered the kitchen where Kyrian and Amanda were finishing up the dinner dishes. "That is one seriously big-ass state."

"It's a pretty drive," Kyrian said innocently. "I thought you'd enjoy the scenery."

"Scenery, my ass," Nick started, then froze. Kyrian looked up to see him staring out the archway and into the living room where Maya sat on the couch beside Acheron, reading a book with her head on his shoulder as he sat with his arms around her. His eyes were closed as he rested a cheek against her hair, one hand slowly running up and down her arm. It was a picture of complete peace and contentment and it made Nick's blood boil. "Oh, _hell_ no," he breathed.

Kyrian grabbed Nick before he took more than two steps and clapped a hand over the Squire's mouth to keep him from yelling at his sister. "Don't be stupid," he hissed in Nick's ear. "What do you think he'll do if you run in there saying things she has no business hearing and demanding he leave her alone?" He didn't wait for or even allow Nick to answer. "Remember who you're dealing with! He's not just playing around or using your sister, Nick. I know it for a fact. I guarantee you that anyone who tries to get between him and Maya will be very, very sorry."

Slowly he released his hold on Nick's mouth but still kept a firm grip on his arm. "You said you'd keep her away from him," Nick accused hoarsely the instant his mouth was free. "Damn it, Kyrian, I trusted you!"

"I said I'd try, but it was already a little too late for that when you asked me," Kyrian admitted. "I'm sorry. There was nothing I could do."

Nick swore furiously. "You're a complete bastard, Kyrian Hunter," he spat. "You know he's going to hurt her!"

"I don't know any such thing, and neither do you." Kyrian gave him a speaking look. "Unless you think he's just using her for sex?"

Nick stared at the tender way Ash held Maya, the look on his face like he was in pure bliss from just having her in his arms, the palm of one big hand resting over the gentle swell of her belly. Nick had had his share of one-night stands and he'd never held one of those women like that. "No," he admitted bitterly.

"You think he's going to put her in danger?"

"Don't be stupid," Nick growled. "Ash would never put any mortal in danger."

"So what's your objection?" Kyrian pressed. "You can't possibly think he's going to hit her like her last boyfriend. Or do you?"

Nick clenched his fists. "He might intend all good things, Kyrian, but he's gonna break her heart. He'll have to leave her eventually whether he wants to or not and it'll shatter her. I know my sister and she doesn't do casual relationships, and he can't have any other kind! I can't let it happen, Kyrian."

Amanda took Nick's shoulder and shook him gently. "It's already happened, Nick, and you know better than this. What happens when a pup challenges the alpha wolf?"

"The pup gets torn apart, Nick," Kyrian answered for him.

"I'm not a pup and he's not a wolf," Nick snapped. "When did we start talking about Katagari anyway?"

"Don't split hairs," Kyrian said impatiently. "He's in major alpha mode over there. Why do you think you're seeing this now? He's letting you!"

And at Kyrian's words, Acheron's eyes snapped open and fixed on Nick with ruthless intensity. He didn't move, didn't speak, but Nick knew at once that Ash's full attention had been on him since the moment he'd walked through the front door. "Go carefully, Nick," Kyrian breathed. "Don't be stupid. I think you're more likely to hurt your sister right now than he is, and I promise you he won't allow it. She doesn't know what he is, what he does, not _any_ of it, and he's keeping it that way."

Nick's face was hard and he didn't look away from Acheron, holding that swirling glare with difficulty but holding it. "With those eyes, what does she _think_ he is?" he ground out. "Has he brainwashed her or something? She's not stupid!"

Ash was moving before Nick had even finished the sentence. He bent to murmur in Maya's ear before slipping away from her and striding toward the kitchen. His loose-limbed predatory walk was a threat all by itself. "Don't push your luck, Nick," Acheron growled as he stopped in front of Nick, letting his fangs show as he spoke, certain Nick would get the unspoken message. "I would never mess with Maya's mind, and I _will_ prevent you from filling her head with things that would only frighten her right now. She'll find out everything she needs to know in time."

"In whose time? Yours? Leave her alone," Nick shot back. "Think about _her_ instead of what's in your pants, will you? She doesn't need this, Ash. She needs a nice, normal man to help her raise that baby. Are _you_ gonna settle down in a little house with a picket fence and raise a baby with her? I don't fucking think so."

Acheron's eyes darkened with the force of the pain and longing that washed over him but he kept his face expressionless. It was a dream he hadn't even dared admit to himself and hearing it spoken aloud was like being taunted with a paradise forever out of reach. "I would like nothing better," he said simply, and it was the truth. He would gladly trade his soul, had he still possessed one, for such a blessing.

"That's not a yes," Nick persisted. "God, does she have any idea what she's gotten herself into here?"

"No, and it's not for you to fill her in," Ash said coldly. "Consider it an order, Squire. Your oath was one of service and secrecy on pain of death. I hold you to it."

Nick's eyes widened but he still didn't back down. "You'd _kill_ me for keeping my sister safe?"

Kyrian decided this had gone far enough. "Nick, calm down," he ordered. "Ash isn't making rules just for fun here. They're for your sister's protection. Do you want the Daimons to stalk her for her knowledge of the Dark-Hunters just because you don't approve of her love-life?"

Nick ignored him completely. "This is wrong, Acheron," he said, clenching his fists and glaring at Ash. "However you try to justify it, you're lying to her and it's wrong. You know it is and you're doing it anyway because you're a selfish bastard. I'll follow your orders because I took an oath, but you've lost my respect." And he turned and strode from the room, seething.

Acheron sighed and watched him go. "That actually went better than I thought it would," he said, rubbing his forehead.

Amanda shook her head, her eyes deeply concerned. "He's just worried about his sister, Ash. Don't hold it against him."

"I don't," Acheron reassured her. "But he doesn't know jack about what's really going on here and I don't want to get my butt fried because he runs off at the mouth."

He sighed again, looking back at Maya and already missing the warmth of her body against his. The hell of it was that Nick was right—Ash was indeed a selfish bastard and well he knew it. If he had any decency at all he'd leave Maya alone, guard her from a distance, and never let her know the beast he truly was.

But it was a sacrifice he couldn't bear to make.

The simple truth was that he wasn't strong enough to walk away now.

She gave him peace. She looked into his eyes without fear and made him feel loved for the first time in his long, long life. Just her simple presence gave him a reason to wake up each morning when he'd long ago begun to wish he wouldn't.

He loved her with everything he was. He needed her more than he needed air. And there was no way in hell he was going to give her up just because her brother didn't like it. He would fight whoever he needed to fight, defy anyone who stood in his way. Maya was his.

Amanda was giving him a searching look. "Who's going to fry _you_, Ash?" she asked, jolting him from his thoughts. "What have both of you been keeping from me?"

Kyrian looked at Ash and raised an eyebrow in silent entreaty. Ash sighed again and threw up his hands. "Oh, what the hell, tell her," he grumbled. Why not post it on the message boards too? "But take it elsewhere, Kyrian."

Amanda dragged her feet as Kyrian took her hand and drew her into the den. Only when the soundproof door was firmly closed did he speak. "You want to sit," he said.

"I'm not the fainting sort, Kyrian," Amanda said, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah, well, you want to sit anyway," he persisted, dragging her to the couch and urging her down on it. When she sat at last he knelt at her feet and took her hands. "Do you know who Archon is, Amanda?" She shook her head, frowning. "He's a major god, the head of the Atlantean pantheon," Kyrian clarified.

She frowned again. "The gods of Atlantis are dead," she said. "I may not know their names, but I know that much. They died when Atlantis sank."

Kyrian took a deep breath. "Well, Archon is back," he said.

Amanda gasped as she remembered the baby's aura. "Maya's carrying his baby?"

He shook his head. "Maya's carrying the reincarnation of the god," he said softly. "She's carrying Archon himself."

She paled and her eyes widened as the shock hit her hard. "Dear Lord," she breathed. "Does she know?"

"No, Amanda, and we're forbidden to tell her," he said urgently. "When we called V'Edrix in for her nightmares he encountered Archon, and the god doesn't want her knowing _anything_. I can only imagine what Ash is going through, trying to keep her from finding out he's a Dark-Hunter."

That look of fear, of panic, that he so detested was back in her eyes. Kyrian hated putting it there. "If Nick tells her—" she whispered.

"She _can't know_, Amanda. We have to help Ash keep Nick in line. This Archon is a major power, right up there with Zeus. You didn't see Ash's face when V'Edrix told him about it but the thought of his wrath scared _Ash_ half to death."

If it was possible she went even paler. "But it wouldn't be his fault, if Nick let something slip," she managed. "Surely the god—"

"The charge was laid directly on Acheron," Kyrian said. His face was grim. "He's responsible for everything when it comes to her. I don't think it matters who tells her what; his neck is the one on the line. The fact that he's so in love with her that he'd kill anyone who tried to frighten her is just icing on the cake. He's going to keep her safe and unknowing, no matter what it takes. We need to keep Nick from getting hurt in the process."

"He'd do that?" she whispered, looking horrified.

Kyrian traced her cheek with his fingertips. "Love, what do you think I'd do to someone who tried to take you from me?" he asked softly. She shivered at the promise of retribution in his eyes. One did not attempt to thwart ancient warriors with impunity. "If Nick manages to tell her anything about the Dark-Hunters he'll get Ash in hot water with the god, terrify Maya beyond belief, and likely get himself annihilated into the bargain."

"You've got to send him away!" Amanda cried. "Nick believes he's right to tell her and that Ash won't really hurt him, Kyrian. Send him away!"

Kyrian shook his head. "Hard to believe even he's that stupid," he said. "But if you can think of a way to get him out of here without letting him know about the god or Jay, let me know."

"Wait, wait," Amanda cut him off. "What do you mean, about Jay? Something's up with him now too?"

_Oops._ "He's an Apollite," Kyrian admitted, bracing himself for Amanda's wrath.

Her eyes widened. "You mean she's being stalked by a Daimon?"

"Not yet," Kyrian hedged. "He hasn't turned yet but he's due for it any time now. He wants her as his first meal. You've seen her aura and I can feel her soul. She's incredibly strong, and if there's a way for him to take the god at the same time—"

"He'd never have to feed again," Amanda finished for him. "My God, Kyrian, when you keep secrets from me you don't do half-measures. Anything else you've neglected to tell me?"

He hesitated only a moment. "Jay's contacted the Daimons here," he said. "I don't know what he worked out in exchange, but they're all hunting her for him. Pretty much every Daimon in the city is on the lookout for Maya."

Amanda leapt to her feet and bolted from the room. Kyrian sprinted after her. "What are you doing?" he demanded as she raced up the stairs.

She didn't stop until she got to Nick's room. Throwing the door open without even knocking, she faced the startled Squire and threw out her hand, a bolt of power shooting right at him. Nick was blasted back across the room and landed on his bed.

"_Amanda!" _ Kyrian grabbed her and tried to contain his shock. Nick was breathing but not moving at all. "What did you _do?"_

She trembled in his arms. "He won't say anything to her about it," she whispered. "I've bound him, Kyrian. He might try, but if he opens his mouth to say one single thing to her about—about any of _that_, he won't be able to."

Damn, but it was disconcerting to be married to a sorceress! "Okay, good plan, but did you have to hit him so hard?"

Amanda still looked pale and shaken. "I wanted to make sure it would work," she said as she wrung her hands. "I didn't want to be too easy and take a chance of the spell slipping off."

"Babe, I think the chances of that are about nil."


	19. Chapter 19

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

The next ten days passed quietly, and they were some of the best of Maya's life. Only occasionally did Ash do anything that forced her to remember the secrets he was keeping from her, and apart from that Maya could almost believe she'd stumbled into Heaven itself.

She had a man who she loved with every fiber of her being, who adored her in return and unlike every man she'd ever known, wasn't shy about showing it. She had a new friend in Amanda whom she knew she would treasure forever. She was welcome in a house that looked like something out of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, complete with the best gym she'd ever seen and a library it would take at least a hundred years to completely go through.

And every night Ash took her to heights she could hardly believe were real.

But she couldn't be totally content. Nick was acting so strangely, leaving the room whenever she and Ash entered together and coming up to her as she worked out alone in the gym later. He'd looked so solemn her heart had frozen, obviously there to talk to her about Acheron. But every time he had tried to speak something had happened to prevent it—he'd gone into a sneezing fit, or choked on nothing until he coughed, or been seized by a spasm of hiccups. He'd given up then and come back the next day only to have the same problem. He'd even tried to write it down but every pen he picked up ran out of ink the instant he touched it to the notepad.

At last, after trying a handful of times, he'd yelled in frustration and pointed at her. "See?" he demanded. "You see this crap? Think about it!" He'd stomped out of the gym before she could even think of a reply.

But Maya thought she did see. Whatever it was Nick wanted to tell her, he was being prevented from it, and the only person she could even consider having that kind of power was Acheron. She'd never asked him about it, they'd never spoken of it, but Maya had been certain for a while now that her lover, impossible as it seemed, possessed the kind of magical powers that she'd thought only existed in novels.

She found him sitting at the computer in the den and confronted him nervously. "I haven't done a thing to your brother," Ash said, raising a single eyebrow but otherwise showing no surprise that she had finally brought up the subject they'd danced around so often. He didn't deny that he had the _ability_ to do such a thing to Nick and that worried Maya more than anything else. "What's wrong with him?"

"He can't talk to me, he can't even write to me," Maya said, hands on her hips as she nervously met those magical eyes. "He wants to tell me something and somehow chokes every time he gets close to getting it out. You want me to believe it's a coincidence?"

Ash's face darkened. "That idiot," he growled, fury bursting through him before he looked back up at Maya and took her hands. He couldn't seem to be around her without touching her. The feel of her fingers entwining with his helped him to rein in his anger. "No, I don't want you to believe it's a coincidence, just that it's not me," he said gently. Oh, it was a very good thing for Nick that he was being prevented from telling her things she had no business knowing. If he'd actually succeeded Ash might have had to seriously hurt him.

But he had succeeded in one thing. Maya's eyes were now clouded with fear. Ash seethed inwardly as thoughts of squashing Nick like a bug danced in his head.

"Then what's going on with him?" Maya demanded, and he felt her reluctantly believing him. He'd never lied to her, had sworn that he wouldn't even to spare her from things she'd be happier not knowing. Right now he regretted that. But for that vow, he'd be able to tell her that Nick was full of crap and make her believe it. "You know, I never believed in magic or supernatural powers or whatever before I met you," she told him, narrowing her eyes, "and I'm not going to be happy if you tell me there's more than one of you around."

Acheron smiled as disarmingly as he could. He couldn't stand to see the wariness in her eyes. "I'm one of a kind in that regard," he reassured her. "But there are more things in heaven and earth…" Like Amanda. She was certainly something special, but even her great powers were nothing compared to his. He squeezed her hands and sighed. "You want me to undo whatever's keeping him quiet, don't you?"

He could tell Maya wanted to look away but she didn't. "Can you?"

There was very little he couldn't do, but he wanted to tell her he didn't have the power to undo this simple spell. He knew exactly who was responsible and he thought Amanda had the right idea.

But he couldn't lie to her. _Wouldn't_ lie to her. "Maya, will you trust me that what he wants to tell you would be something very bad for you to know right now?" he asked softly.

"How do you know what he wants to tell me?"

He felt the edge beneath his feet, knew he was dancing far too close to it. There was no help for it. "Because it's about me," he murmured, cupping her face in his hands. "All those things you said you wouldn't ask me," he added, hoping against hope that the reminder of her promise would close the subject.

Maya stiffened and stepped back from him. Ash let her even as every instinct in his body screamed to pull her back against him, to take her to bed and love her so well that she wouldn't care what secrets he hid. He resisted. Those thoughts were cowardice, nothing more. She stepped back again, out of reach, and he let his hands fall away.

"Knowing about you would be very bad for me, you said," she whispered. "You mean being with you, not just knowing about you."

"No," he said at once. "You're in no danger from me, Maya."

"No?" she countered. "Then why is my brother trying to warn me away from you? The look on his face spoke volumes, Ash."

Acheron devoured her with his eyes, his heart aching. It hurt so much to see her back away from him as though he were a threat to her, but he had to let her. If he pushed too hard now he'd lose her. It was as plain as though she'd screamed it. "Your brother doesn't know everything, love," he said, his voice very low so that his anger wouldn't come through. "If he did, he wouldn't be trying to make you doubt me."

"It seems like he knows a hell of a lot more than I do. Even Kyrian and Amanda know something about you that I don't." He felt the hurt and uncertainty pouring off her and inwardly craved revenge. Deep inside he vowed that Nick would pay dearly for this. "Why do you trust them and not me?" Maya asked, her tone colored with pain, and it was the last straw.

To hell with letting her have her space, he couldn't sit still while she was hurting. Ash stood and dragged her into his arms in one smooth movement, curling his fingers around the nape of her neck and holding her close to his heart. He loved the feel of her in his arms and the warm curve of her growing pregnancy pressing against his hip. How he wished this child was his! "I trust you more than anyone alive," he whispered against her hair. "You know more of me, of _who_ I am, than any of them."

"But you still don't want me to ask you," Maya said very quietly against his chest. Her hands rested on his waist but she didn't put her arms around him, and the significance of that was not lost on him. "You don't want me to ask _what_ you are."

"I'm begging you not to," Ash replied, squeezing her still tighter.

She shivered against him. "Because you'd tell me if I asked."

"Yes. I would tell you, and the answers wouldn't bring you any happiness."

The pain in his voice did her in. Maya closed her eyes and clung to him, choking on the questions she wouldn't ask. She'd promised, she'd made a stupid, blind promise, but she would abide by it. Acheron had promised never to lie to her and even now, when it obviously tormented him, he wouldn't spin her a pretty tale to soothe her mind. She sighed. She could do no less. "I know one thing about you," she whispered. "You definitely have a sense of honor."

Acheron could have laughed with sheer relief if not for the anger at Nick that still flooded him. "I've developed it over the years," he said.

She raised her head to glare at him and there was nothing playful in her expression as there had been so many times before. "If you're not going to tell me how old you are, don't say things like _over the years,_" she said, poking a finger angrily at his chest. "You're making me think insane things with comments like that."

He caught a few of them. They weren't so insane, except for one. "I'm not a vampire," he said, making sure his fangs were banished before he smiled at her. "Shove me in a sunbeam, throw holy water on me, hit me with a cross if it makes you feel better on that score." Of course only the sunlight worked on real vampires, but that was one bit of information he _never_ intended her to have. Even after she found out at last what he was, Acheron would move heaven and earth to make sure she _never_ came near a Daimon.

And he could.

Then his relief faded when she dragged him to the window and opened the curtains so that the sunlight fell on him. The bright light made his eyes sting and water, but he stood there without blinking as Maya stared at him. He reached out and fingered her cross necklace, holding it in his hand to prove he could. "Shall I send out for holy water?" he asked, not kidding in the least.

For some reason her eyes filled with tears and she shook her head. "What is it?" he asked, brushing them off her cheeks. _Oh, Nick would pay for this!_ "Maya?"

"Whatever you are," she whispered, "I can't keep you, can I? You're… bigger, more important than I am. It's only a matter of time before you go away, isn't it?"

He went to his knees at her feet, wrapping his arms around her waist and pressing his cheek against the now-pronounced curve of her belly. "Don't say things like that," he said hoarsely. "Nothing is more important than you. I love you, Maya. The only way I'd ever leave you is if you sent me away." And even then he might not go.

Her fingers ran through his hair, soothing him, making him love her even more. "When you tell me whatever secrets you're keeping," Maya said hesitantly, "will I want to send you away, Ash?"

He shuddered at the thought, at the very real possibility. "I hope not, love," he murmured fervently. "By all the gods, I hope not."

The baby kicked against his cheek, demanding his attention. He didn't want to give it. Right now he really, really didn't want to pay attention to anything but the sweet feeling of Maya in his arms, her fingers in his hair, but he didn't have any choice. When he felt the baby's lifeforce he could have cursed the house down, torn the walls apart with his bare hands.

Archon had come to stay in that tiny body that had grown and developed at the speed of light to prepare for him. If things kept on at the rate they were going, about a week of growth for every day that passed, Acheron guessed Maya had only a few more days left until she gave birth. Only a few more days until Archon revealed himself to the woman who had borne him. A bare handful of days until Acheron had to account for himself, to explain what he was and why he hadn't told her. He didn't expect the god to help him any there. Gods were notoriously self-centered that way.

Panic clawed at him. It wasn't enough time. Deep down inside he didn't know if she could forgive him, if she could understand that he'd done it all to keep her safe. If she left him, feared him, sent him away… he couldn't bear the thought.

Maya took each of his hands and kissed them before leaving the den. Ash watched her go, waiting until she'd reentered the gym, before striding out of the room.

Nick and Kyrian were in the living room. Ash didn't even break stride as he passed Kyrian and ignored whatever the former Hunter said to him. Nick leapt to his feet at his first glance at Ash's furious face but it didn't do him any good. A bare heartbeat later he lay sprawled on the floor a good six feet from where he had been standing, rubbing his jaw as Ash towered furiously over him, fist still clenched.

"Acheron!" Kyrian shouted, jumping up and running to him.

Acheron shook off Kyrian's restraining hand and dragged Nick to his feet with one hand twisted in his shirt. Nick kicked and struggled but there was no escaping that grip. "I'll let you live this time," Ash snarled fiercely at the Squire. "But if you dare try anything like that ever again, I _will_ kill you. Do you understand me?"

Nick narrowed his eyes and opened his mouth but Kyrian urgently gave him a kill signal from behind Ash's back. Kyrian, at least, had no doubts whatsoever that Nick's life was being held in the balance by the finest of threads and this wasn't the time for bravery or sarcasm. Finally Nick answered in a sullen tone that made him no brownie points with either man. "Fine. If you want to lie to my sister about what you are, I'll stop trying to tell her the truth."

Kyrian closed his eyes and ran a hand over his face in horror. He might as well have invited Acheron to destroy him.

But Ash just dropped him to the floor, his fists clenching and unclenching as he glared down at the Squire. "You might be interested to know," he growled, "that it is only for her sake that you're still breathing." With that he vanished in a flash of light.

Kyrian sent Nick a speaking look. "What?" Nick demanded, struggling to his feet with his jaw already beginning to bruise.

"You're a complete idiot, do you know that?" Kyrian snapped. "You must have a death wish. Please tell me you didn't really go to your sister and try to scare her away from him. Even you're not _that_ dumb!"

Nick glared back belligerently. "Would you want one of your sisters sleeping with him?" he shot back.

"My sisters are dead," Kyrian said shortly. "Yours isn't. Can you think of anyone more able to keep her that way than Acheron?"


	20. Chapter 20

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya made her break three days later.

She'd planned it carefully, knowing she would only have one chance at this. She'd feigned sleep after Ash had made love to her, such sweet, gentle love that it had almost shattered her resolve to do this. He was so careful with her, always mindful of her advancing pregnancy, and yet despite her growing waistline her body still seemed to arouse him to madness. It had been so hard to stay awake while he held her afterward, stroking her back, but she'd managed. At last he'd risen and quietly dressed, leaving the bedroom they shared as he so often did while she napped to recover from the amazing things he made her feel.

How she would miss him.

She'd dressed, grabbed the small duffel bag she'd stashed under the foot of the bed, and gone out the window with the baby kicking hard the whole time.

Only when she'd driven out of the gates in her Blazer—repaired, running smooth, and all traces of blood erased from the interior, she noticed—did Maya dare to relax. She hoped Acheron would understand why she had to get away for a couple of days. She'd tried to explain. What she felt for him was so intense, so completely unexpected, that it terrified her. She loved every minute with him but she had to get out and clear her head.

Well, she corrected, she loved almost every minute. All the ones when she wasn't beating her head against the wall trying to figure out what he was.

Vampire had been her best guess. He certainly possessed the raw sexuality and the undeniable power that had marked every vampire she'd ever read about. He hardly seemed to need sleep. His reluctance to tell her his age made visions of immortality dance in her head. Heck, he'd been shot six times the other night and had sat there as if it was no big deal to him, not to mention his miraculous healing. The fact that he was telepathic only capped it. He was so powerful that she could talk to him straight to his mind, and she knew she wasn't the least bit psychic. He was the one who made it possible, not any untapped ability on her part. The final straw had come last night when she'd realized she'd never even seen the man eat.

What other explanation could there be? He had to be a vampire!

But he'd stood in a sunbeam and held her cross, so she figured he couldn't be a vampire unless every single thing she'd ever read about them was wrong. So what _was_ he? She didn't have any idea and it was starting to freak her out way too much.

She drove right out of New Orleans, guessing that Acheron would be able to find her in about five minutes if she stayed there no matter where she hid. She stopped a couple of hours later in a little town, admiring the sunset and wondering what to do next. The baby kicked again, hard, and she pressed the little foot back down with a shake of her head. "If I didn't know better, I'd almost think you disapprove of this field trip, baby," she murmured.

_And you would be exactly right,_ a faint voice echoed in her mind even as the baby kicked beneath her hand again. Maya laughed and shook her head. She'd known many pregnant women who talked to their unborn children but never any who'd thought their babies answered back. Her mind was really playing tricks on her.

_Go back to New Orleans! You're in more danger than you can imagine!_

This time the voice was louder, imperative. Maya frowned. Surely Acheron couldn't reach her all the way out here? "The danger's back there, baby," she whispered before starting to look for a hotel room to pass the night. "You hear that? That man is in my head even from a hundred miles away."

_I'm not Acheron,_ the voice insisted.

"Sure you're not," Maya said dryly before realizing she was sitting there talking out loud to a disembodied voice. She shook her head. "No more voices," she said firmly, closing her mind as hard as she could. She'd tried it a few times with Acheron, most recently this morning, and it had seemed to work. She pictured a deflector shield like the ones on Star Trek and extended it all the way around her body just for good measure. "There, that should keep him out."

_I am _not_ Acheron! _The baby kicked so hard she winced.

"I don't believe my baby is talking to me, and even if you are I don't want to hear it from you, either!" She wasn't going back to New Orleans no matter what some high-handed voice in her head told her. From now on, she was listening only to herself.

At least she knew what she really was.

#&#

Acheron stood in the doorway to his bedroom—their bedroom—and tried to find the strength to move. Every breath brought an agony so deep it pierced straight through him. Even without her letter it was clear what had happened. The window was still open, the curtains flapping in the breeze, and when he sent his powers surging through the house and over the grounds, it only confirmed what he already knew.

Maya was gone.

She'd left him, sneaking out the window like a thief in the night. Her letter, left taped to the outside of the door and now crushed in his hand, had begged him to understand that she needed some time alone to sort things out. She was overwhelmed, she was confused, and now when she was in the most danger she was gone.

The pain was crippling, annihilating. He fought to breathe through it. She hadn't even said goodbye, but she must have known that he would never have allowed her to leave him if she'd given him even the slightest inkling of what she planned. Damn that honor she thought he had, he would have done whatever it took to keep her safe from all those who would harm her. He'd have locked her in Kyrian's reinforced basement or tied her to the bed and to hell with the consequences. She didn't know what she was playing with out there. He couldn't even touch her mind, either to beg her to come home or to find her and track her down. She'd gone far in the hours since he'd left her alone in the bed.

Finally, hurting with an intensity far worse than anything he'd ever experienced—and he'd experienced the agonies of hell—Ash reached for the phone by the bed and called Papa Bear Peltier. "Maya's loose," he said, his tone bland even as he squeezed his eyes shut against the shattering of his heart at having to speak those words. "Get your boys searching. Let's find her before the Daimons do." The same call was repeated to Talon, to Valerius, to Vane and the Katagari.

Then he hung up and went in search of Nick, his fangs out and his eyes dead cold. If the Squire had known the tiniest detail about Maya's disappearance or aided her in any way Ash might very well tear him limb from limb.

Acheron, even with his secrets and his powers, had been the least of Maya's worries. It was time for Nick to know the real score.

#&#

Maya stopped for the night in a motel beside the highway. It was cheap, it was dingy, but the sheets were clean and the water in the tiny shower stall was hot. All in all it was good enough for her to do the soul searching she so desperately needed.

After her shower she sat outside on a bent metal lawn chair beside the empty pool, just watching the traffic go by and thinking of Acheron as the night deepened around her. _At least call him if you won't go back,_ that annoyingly persistent voice kept urging her. She still thought it was Ash, reaching out to her long-distance, and she still ignored it.

He overwhelmed her, that was the problem. She didn't have a chance against those magnificent eyes, that gorgeous body. The way he made love to her like he was worshipping her, as though he lived only to give her pleasure. He was generous and giving, he had a sense of humor that drove her nuts, and she knew she was completely, head-over-heels in love with the man.

But he wasn't simply a man. There was nothing mundane or ordinary about him at all. She felt like a crow beside a peacock. Why in the world did he want her? _Why_ wouldn't he tell her anything about himself? She didn't even know where he came from—he had a sexy, melodic accent she couldn't place—didn't know anything about his childhood, or even if he had any siblings. And those were the _minor_ things he was keeping from her.

There was something major, she was sure of that.

The baby suddenly went into a kicking frenzy, making her gasp and wrap her arms around her abdomen. "Will you stop already before I'm black and blue?"

_Get inside! Go now!_

Maya looked up at the urgency in that voice and saw four men striding toward the pool, all tall, blond, and gorgeous. She shuddered at their resemblance to Jay. _NOW! _the voice roared in her head, and it was a warning she didn't dare ignore. She jumped up and started walking quickly toward her room, her key clutched in her hand, somehow knowing that to run would provoke predatory instincts and make things much worse.

"Hey, Maya, wait up a second!" one of them called, and the fact that they knew her name kicked her terror into high gear.

She'd just reached her door when her arm was grabbed and she was pulled around to face one of the men—a tall, blond Adonis who radiated an evil so strong it made her feel ill. "Get off me!" she shouted, wrapping her fist around the key so it protruded from between her knuckles and punching him right in the face.

After that it was madness. They didn't try to hurt her, but they were determined to take her and with her body off-balance from her advanced pregnancy, Maya couldn't hope to defeat so many. She screamed for all she was worth though, trying to attract the attention of other guests, hoping someone would call the cops.

In the end only two of the four men were left standing, but two was enough. One finally succeeded in pinning her arms behind her and the other lifted her by her ankles, gripping them so tight that she had no chance of breaking free. He jerked his head at the door to her room. "Invite us in, sweetheart," he taunted, grinning at her.

Showing his long, sharp canine fangs.

_Acheron!_ she screamed in her mind, dropping the shields and putting all her mental energy behind it. He'd always been able to hear her before; she only hoped he would be able to hear her now. "Go to hell," she spat at the blond monstrosity who leered at her.

"Hmm, Sten, I don't think she's going to invite us into her room," he laughed at the one who held her by her arms behind her back.

"You're a moron, Artane," the second one growled. "You're wasting time. Let's get her out of here. I want my reward from Janus."

"Who the hell is Janus?" Maya demanded through lips numbed with panic, trying to both hide her fear and delay the inevitable.

They both laughed. "You might know him as Jay," Sten said. Then, seeing the shock and horror on her face, they laughed again. "Didn't he tell you he was turning Daimon? You're gonna be his first meal, pretty little Maya, and when he's full of your strength and your baby's powers he's gonna reward us well for our help."

She screamed even harder as they dragged her into the back of a van, fighting with everything in her, but it didn't help. The doors closed, locking her inside the windowless metal box, and all she could do was cry out to Acheron and hope he could hear her. Even the other voice, the voice that couldn't possibly belong to her baby, was silent.


	21. Chapter 21

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Acheron had sent the Katagari out in pairs in case they met more Daimons than one warrior could handle and they had combed the city for Maya's scent without success. Nick was babysitting Marissa back at the Hunter's house and damned lucky to be alive after he'd weathered Ash's wrath. Ash was certain Maya wouldn't have left at all had Nick not frightened her with his vague warnings. He couldn't fight the rising tide of desperation that swept over him, threatening to drown him every time he tried to scan for her and came up with nothing. The day was dying and Talon and Valerius would be joining the search as soon as the sun dipped below the horizon, but something in Ash screamed that if they didn't find her by sunset the Daimons would have her.

And an hour past sunset, the suspicion turned to a horrible certainty. He was striding down the street with Amanda and Kyrian, both armed to the teeth and possessing enough magic between them to level a city block, when Maya's terrified voice screamed in his mind. He shouted in rage, pressing the heels of his hands to his head, sending every ounce of power he possessed along that brief, thin conduit to Maya and trying to latch onto her. _Where are you?_ he demanded desperately, completely oblivious to Amanda and Kyrian staring at him in horror.

But she was panicked and something was blocking her so she couldn't hear him, and he didn't recognize the motel he caught a glimpse of through her eyes. He couldn't get a hold on her with his powers and zap her home. Something prevented him from getting a hold on her, something powerful. _Maya, answer me! Where are you?_

The only answer was another brief glimpse through her eyes and his heart froze at the sight of a Daimon leering at her, fangs bared, drinking in her terror. Maya's fear beat at him. "No!" Acheron roared.

"What is it? What do you see?" Kyrian demanded urgently. "Acheron! Talk to us so we can help her!"

"The Daimons have her," Acheron growled. Lightning whipped across the sky and thunderclouds boiled from nowhere with the force of his rage and fear for her. "They have her, Kyrian. They're taking her to him!"

Amanda paled. "_Where_, Ash?"

Acheron squeezed his head between his palms, trying with all his might to reach her. But all he could hear was her calling him, the fear in her mind, calling his name and unable to hear his replies. "She's not in New Orleans," he ground out finally. "I don't know where she is, but they have her in a car or something, they're taking her somewhere." He threw back his head and shouted out his frustration. "I can't see it!"

Kyrian grabbed his arm. "A direction, Ash," he pressed. "Surely you can give us that much. North? West? Where do you sense her?"

Acheron realized only then that he'd spun instinctively when Maya's scream had shattered his mind. He faced due north. "North," he said, spinning on his heel and sprinting for his motorcycle, Kyrian and Amanda right on his heels.

Halfway there Ash stumbled and almost fell, pressing a hand to his stomach. Amanda grabbed his arm. "What, Ash? _What?"_ she demanded, panicking at the sight of the pain on his face.

"The baby's coming," he ground out. "Archon's coming."

#&#

The first contraction ripped through her with the force of a freight train. Maya screamed from the mixture of shock, pain, and disbelief. "No, not now," she whispered, wrapping her arms around her swollen abdomen as she knelt on the cold metal floor of the van. "Don't come now, baby, I can't protect you like this!"

_Don't be afraid. _I_ will protect _you_, little one._

Maya moaned at that voice once more speaking insanity right into her mind. She wished with all her heart that the voice was Acheron's, but she no longer thought it was. When Acheron spoke in her head his words were carried on a strong undercurrent of love that took her breath away. This voice… this voice was pure power, no undercurrent necessary.

This voice scared the living daylights out of her.

But there was no denying that the baby was coming now. Her water broke with a gush, wetting the floor, and she was grateful she'd had just a spare second of warning and could jerk her long skirt out of the way so that it was mostly spared. The next contraction seized her, hard and fast, and Maya panted in an effort to alleviate the pain.

Oh, yes, this baby was coming all right and it was coming fast. She could hardly spare the effort to pray that Acheron was right and the baby had been developing at an insanely fast rate, because otherwise she was about to give birth to a seriously premature infant in the back of a moving van.

Not to mention that the van was filled with vampires.

Maya braced her hands against the sides of the van and rode each contraction, trying to convince herself that she wasn't ripping apart down there despite the evidence of her senses, and tried desperately to think of any way that she could fight free in this condition. Fighting while hugely pregnant was difficult enough, but fighting while in active labor… that might just be impossible.

She'd lost all sense of time when the van stopped. The doors were pulled open and her arms roughly grabbed before she was dragged out of the van. "Aw, damn it," the vampire called Sten griped when she crumpled, holding her abdomen as the pain took her again. "Get Janus down here ASAP, she's having that baby now!"

Artane scooped her up, one arm under her back and the other tightly clamping her thighs together. The pressure built until she cried out with it. "I think we might have to take her to him," he said grimly. "Damn it, did you have to make that stupid comment about the baby's soul to her, moron? What the hell did you think would happen?"

Maya looked up at the building they were carrying her toward and tried with all her might to send the image to Acheron. _I don't know if you're can hear me or if you're even coming,_ she thought frantically at him. _But if you are, please hurry!_

Artane ran inside and up a set of rickety stairs. Sten pushed the door open for them at the top and the three of them erupted into a room that could have been ripped straight from Maya's nightmares.

Vampires waited in there, masses of vampires, and they all looked at her with fangs bared and the glint of hunger bright in their eyes.

And standing right at the center of them all was Jay, smiling at her and baring his fangs. "You're just in time for dinner, Maya my love," he said genially before Artane dumped her at his feet.

#&#

The image of the building burst across Acheron's mind as he tore down the highway at suicidal speeds. It was close, thank the gods. He took the barest fraction of a second to sear it into Kyrian's brain before vanishing with a flash of light, leaving his motorcycle to careen off the highway and shatter against the concrete divider.

Forget his precious motorcycle, it could be replaced. Maya couldn't.

He appeared a bare instant later in the parking lot of the eroded old warehouse and sprinted inside, his powers surging and searching for her. When he felt her at last he latched on and didn't let go even though that strange power prevented him from zapping her straight into his arms. _I'm here, Maya,_ he sent with all the force he dared use on her mortal mind, praying it cut through the panic and whatever was blocking him and allowed her to hear him. _Show me where you are, sweetheart. Let me see what you see._

Maya jerked as Acheron's voice shattered her hysteria. She looked around the room and tried to send the images to Ash, seeing every one of the bloodthirsty monsters who were staring at her like she was the main course and they were starving, before looking up at Jay. Another contraction tore through her body and she groaned, seized by the strongest urge to push, a compulsion she fought with all her might. _Hurry,_ she gasped at Acheron even though she didn't really think that even he could save her now.

Jay bent down and cupped her face. "Yes, I plan on it," he said, and she realized she'd whispered the word aloud. "You see, once that baby leaves your body, I'll be powerless to take his soul. And the god's soul is the one I want, much more than yours." He tilted her head to the side almost gently, baring his fangs and leaning down to her exposed throat.

The doors shattered and Acheron burst into the room with the fury of a hurricane even as Jay's mouth met an invisible barrier, stopping him from sinking his fangs into her neck. The first six Daimons who charged Ash disintegrated in a red flash when they got within two feet of him and Ash conjured his staff from the ether around him. "Stand down, Apollite," he growled, his eyes never leaving Jay as he effortlessly dispatched two more Daimons with the sharp point of his staff.

Jay laughed and dragged Maya to her feet with one hand in her hair. "I am Apollite no longer, Dark-Hunter," he smirked. "Do you really think you can get to me before I take her for my first meal?"

"Count on it," Acheron snarled, the entire building shaking as he unleashed his powers and let the animal inside him have free reign.

Forget trying not to frighten her with his powers. Forget Archon's warning of retribution should Maya know anything about Dark-Hunters. He'd deal with all that later. Right now all that mattered was saving the woman he loved.

Maya stared at Acheron, her Acheron, as he ruthlessly decimated everyone and everything that dared to stand in his way. Bodies flew with a wave of his hand, disintegrated at a single snarled word, crumpled and vanished as he used his staff with brutal efficiency. There were perhaps two dozen more vampires between Acheron and the spot where Jay held her, but she had no doubt at all that Ash would be at her side before Jay could have a chance to harm her or her baby.

Apparently Jay reached that same conclusion because he sighed and tossed her aside. She landed in a crumpled heap by the wall. "Be right back," he said as if heartily annoyed that he was having to delay killing her. "Just as soon as I vaporize your pet Dark-Hunter and negate that little spell he put around your neck."

The two met in the center of the huge room, Jay plucking a staff of his own from the air, and they exploded in violence. Maya wanted to crawl to them, every instinct demanding that she aid Acheron, but her laboring body was in charge and her brain was just along for the ride. She watched the swarm of vampires close around him, overwhelming him as Jay retreated out of Ash's reach, and she cried out a denial even as another contraction seized her. No one could possibly hope to fight off so many!

The door flew open again and Kyrian and Amanda burst in, Kyrian plunging right into the fray with an ancient-looking sword as Amanda sprinted to her side. "How close?" she demanded, falling to her knees beside Maya as she panted through another contraction.

Maya couldn't speak. The veins in her temple throbbed as she lost the battle to resist the urge to push. "Go help Ash," she gasped when she could breathe again.

"Ash doesn't need help, there aren't enough Daimons in the state to take him down," Amanda said with stark honesty. "Come on, I'm getting you out of here."

But Maya's legs wouldn't support her. "I can't!" she cried as another contraction washed over her, right on the heels of the last one. She wanted to beg the other woman for help but couldn't speak. She threw back her head and pushed with every ounce of strength she possessed, screaming with the pain of it.

Amanda didn't dare try to move her like this. She glanced at the battle around them and quickly cast a circle around herself and Maya—she would know should any attempt to approach them. Right now her first priority was to aid Maya in having this baby so she could rescue the poor woman. She put her arm around Maya and propped her against her shoulder, helping support her. "You can do this," she said encouragingly, trying to remember what Kyrian had murmured to her when Marissa was being born and she'd struggled to push the infant out. "Good girl, Maya, you're doing perfect, just keep pushing."

"They're going to kill my baby!" Maya moaned, grasping Amanda's hand with bruising strength as her head whipped back and forth in denial. "I can't fight like this!"

"Kyrian and Ash are kicking their asses, Maya, don't worry about that," Amanda told her truthfully. "You just concentrate on getting that baby out and let us worry about the rest, okay?"

"They're vampires, you have to go, you need to get out—" Maya panted, fixing frantic eyes on Amanda.

"Maya, I'm a sorceress," Amanda said flatly, letting her eyes shimmer with power in a faint imitation of Acheron's. She figured at this point that their cover was pretty much blown anyway and anything she could do to comfort Maya was fair. "I eat scum like that for breakfast. Don't worry about me. I'll fry anyone who comes near us, and don't you dare think I can't do it. Now push! Get that baby born so we can get you out of here!"

Acheron barely registered Kyrian joining him in the melee. All his thoughts, every ounce of his effort was focused on reaching Jay, and he attacked with single-minded fury. _Here_ was the bastard who'd hurt his Maya, who'd beaten her until she was unrecognizable, who'd ambushed her and come within an inch of killing her with his fists. The Daimons between them were mere nuisances and he expired them as quickly as he could, shrugging off any blows that happened to land on him. But Jay…

Jay would die slowly. Acheron would make sure of it.

Just as he and Kyrian had thinned the flock of Daimons sufficiently that Jay could no longer hide behind them, however, the tense air was split by Maya's agonized scream. Acheron reached for her mind, unable to look at her but so unnerved by the raw pain in her cry that he had to touch her somehow.

_Focus on your fight, Dark-Hunter! We are all in danger now. Keep the Daimons busy and away from your woman! _

Archon's voice in his head made Acheron curse loudly. He had wanted Maya, not the god, dammit!

Jay chose that moment to glance over at the two women on the floor and grinned evilly. "Perfect timing!" he gloated just as the cry of a newborn baby rang around them. "I hear the dinner-bell!"

Red rage bled across Acheron's vision and he leapt on the Apollite, his staff forgotten as he ripped Jay's from him as well. He would kill this bastard with his bare hands!

Amanda caught the squirming infant and placed him on Maya's chest, peeling off her coat and draping it over them both. "You did it, Maya," she praised, unable to take her eyes off the perfect, divine infant. "He's beautiful!"

But something wasn't right. His aura was weak, diffused down the umbilical cord that still attached him to his mother.

Was it supposed to be like that?


	22. Chapter 22

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

"Cut the cord!" Acheron yelled from across the room, pinning Jay to the floor as he delivered blows that should have crippled the Apollite, beating him with every ounce of hatred and revenge in him.

And Amanda understood at last. While the cord attached him to a mortal, Archon was vulnerable. She yanked a dagger from her boot and slashed through the cord.

Light flashed through the room and there was a sound like the crack of thunder. Maya shielded her eyes from the brilliance, instinctively clutching her baby tighter.

Her arms were empty.

"No!" she cried, shoving Amanda's jacket off and searching frantically for the infant. "No, no, no!"

_"Peace, Maya. I am here."_

She jumped and jerked around at the words. At the voice. She knew that voice. She found herself staring up at a tall, broad, and unbelievably handsome man who stood right beside her. His eyes glowed like the sun. He seemed so familiar, yet she was certain she had never seen him before in her life. "I don't understand," she whispered, afraid to look at him but unable to look away.

Acheron threw Jay into the nearest wall and watched with great satisfaction as he slumped to the floor, bloody and unconscious. He was glad Jay wasn't dead—he wasn't done punishing him yet, not by a long shot. When Jay regained consciousness he fully intended to beat him bloody all over again. Maybe when the man's face was broken, swollen and unrecognizable, his bones shattered and all his internal organs hideously bruised just as Maya's had been, perhaps then Ash would go ahead and expire him.

Or maybe not. He found beating Jay immensely satisfying.

But all such things took a backseat when a reborn god entered the room. Acheron reached out and grabbed Kyrian's shoulder, jerking him right off his feet as he fell onto his knees. "Show some respect, you fool," he hissed.

Maya shook her head in denial, oblivious to everything going on around her. "Who are you? Where's my baby?"

Archon went to one knee beside her, reaching out to touch her face. With that one touch the sweat and blood on her body vanished, the pain and trauma of the birth leaving her in an instant. "I am sorry I couldn't allow them to prepare you for this," he murmured. "I am Archon, Maya, though you don't know my name. I am a god."

She shook her head again, obviously overwhelmed. "I want my baby," she whispered.

Archon took her hand as he motioned Acheron over. Ash crossed the room in an instant, clearly waiting only for a sign to go to her. "You never carried a human child, Maya," he said gently. "You carried me, little one. You have brought me back from death, reincarnated me. I am in your debt." He helped her to her feet and bestowed a gentle kiss on her forehead that made the skin there burn and tingle. "My blessing will be with you all the days of your life."

Maya couldn't understand any of this. All she knew was that the child she'd carried, the baby she'd so desperately wanted, had been taken from her by this huge, overpowering stranger. She felt Acheron beside her and turned to him, her eyes pleading for him to tell her it was a mistake. "Ash?"

Archon smiled at the Atlantean. "The ban is lifted, Dark-Hunter. That danger has passed, though just barely. Tell her what you will."

Acheron gathered her close, shaking with relief that she was back in his arms and with fear of what she would think of him now that the moment of truth was at hand. "Archon was—_is_—a god of my people," he said softly. "You've been given a great honor, Maya, to bring him back."

Her numbed brain finally started to work again. She gasped and shoved Acheron away. "You knew?" she accused in an agonized whisper. "You _knew!_"

"Maya—" Ash began, reaching out for her again.

"No!" she screamed, stumbling to her feet and backing away from them all. "You _knew_ about my baby and you didn't tell me!"

"Maya, he couldn't," Amanda said, grasping the hem of Maya's skirt as she retreated past her. "None of us could tell you—"

But Maya wasn't listening. The incredible battle that had just taken place was replaying itself in her mind and her eyes flew to Ash in sudden horror. Again she saw the sheer destructive force Acheron had unleashed as he'd vaporized six fighters without so much as touching them, the way bodies had flown and crumpled with just a wave of a hand that had once caressed her so tenderly. Oh, yes, she'd known he possessed more than psychic and healing abilities, but never could she have even imagined what she'd just seen. His unbelievable strength, so much more than any man could possibly possess, combined with a fury stronger than any human could contain and remain sane, his razor-sharp fangs bared as he'd growled at the Daimons in unmistakable aggression. The power had rolled off him in waves, so overwhelming that the very building had trembled from the rage burning in his eyes.

His blood-red eyes.

Terror overwhelmed her. She'd trusted him, made love with him, and he wasn't even human! "Oh no, please no," she moaned, pressing her back against the wall, as far from Acheron as she could get.

The agony on his face when he looked at her seared her but she couldn't feel sorry for him. All she could feel was confusion, loss and terror. "Maya," Ash whispered, holding out a hand. "Love, please. Don't be afraid."

Maya shook her head frantically, wrapping her arms around herself and shaking from head to toe in fear. All she knew, all she understood, was that she'd lost her baby and the man she loved all in one horrifying moment. The pain of the loss overwhelmed her and she choked out a sob, but it wasn't enough. This was an agony too deep for tears, too all-consuming to be borne.

Acheron felt her horror and grief and it sliced him to the heart. At that moment he hated Archon for choosing Maya, for making her such a target that he would have to unleash his destructive powers just to save her, having to cause her such fear in order to preserve her life. One look at her standing there, absolutely terrified of him, confirmed his worst fear. He was losing her just as he'd feared he would when she saw him for what he was. No one could ever love such an unnatural monster as he.

Archon went to her and Ash clenched his jaw in jealousy. _He_ should be the one to comfort her! "There is no need to grieve. There will be other children for you, Maya," Archon said in that deep, power-rich voice. It seemed to steal the grief from her, but she still quaked with fear. "Every child will be blessed, strong, and perfect, and I will watch over them until the end of their days."

And any hope left in Acheron's heart crumbled to dust at the god's words. It was the final blow. If Maya was to have other children, they wouldn't come from his loins. That ability had been stolen from him thousands of years ago. The thought of another man touching her, loving her, giving her children, made his head swim with jealousy and the desire to kill. Maya was _his,_ damn it! No other would _ever_ touch her.

His rage turned to ashes. He could not deny her any happiness, even if it came at such a high price.

As if hearing his thoughts Archon turned and stared straight into Acheron's eyes. Ash jerked as his groin suddenly burned and tingled. "You have always assumed the worst," Archon said softly. "Did you think I would overlook this, Acheron?" And he knew without being told that the god had repaired the damage done to him during his mortal life. For the first time in eleven thousand years, Acheron was whole again.

But the only woman who had ever made him give a damn whether or not he could father children looked ready to bolt. She stood there staring at him in abject terror, an expression he'd seen far too often in the past. Seeing it now in the only eyes that had ever looked on him with love hurt worse than a knife to the heart, and he fought the nearly overwhelming temptation to erase these memories from her mind.

Archon kept turning until his eyes fell on Jay lying crumpled on the floor. A glance at Ash revealed his intentions to keep punishing the unconscious man. "Honestly, Acheron, don't you think you've exacted enough revenge on him?" Archon asked before snapping his fingers. The Apollite vanished in a puff of golden smoke.

It was all Acheron could do not to protest even though it was too late. "I'd planned on a little more, actually," he said, staring at Maya. _Don't fear me, love,_ he thought to her a little desperately. _I could never harm you!_ "He deserves it."

She clapped her hands over her ears and squeezed her eyes shut as if to block him out. _Don't speak to me like that!_ she screamed silently. _Stay out of my head!_

Archon sighed, drawing Ash's attention back to him. "I didn't give you these powers to have you kill with your fists, Acheron," he chided. "But I suppose I can understand the inclination. Have no fear. I will punish him more than adequately for daring to harm Maya."

At the word _powers_ Maya moaned. Ash could have wept. Archon stroked her hair soothingly. "You have much to speak of with Acheron," he told her quietly. "This is not the place to do it." And with a flash the three of them vanished.


	23. Chapter 23

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

They reappeared back at in the bedroom they'd shared in Kyrian and Amanda's palatial house. Maya looked as though she might be about to faint, but Archon steadied her before Acheron could get there. "I must leave you, Maya," Archon said. "Talk to Acheron. Do not fault him for the restrictions I placed on him, the secrets he kept. He was not given a choice." He kissed her forehead again. "Maya, when you are ready, call to me and I will give you any gift you desire. I leave my blessing with you both." And then he was gone.

Acheron caught her as she swayed and almost fell. She cried out when his hands touched her, cringing away from him. "Maya, please don't," Ash begged, wanting to roar with agony. Lightning speared the ground and thunder roared as the force of his emotions fed the fierce storm he'd already created. "I can't stand your fear, love." He lifted her and carried her to the bed, lying down with her and holding her close despite her struggles to free herself. "You have no need to fear me, ever."

Maya went still and rigid against him as she realized she couldn't get away. "You lied to me. You said you weren't a vampire, but you have fangs," she whispered. "I saw them. You're one of _them!_"

His arms tightened around her. "No, Maya, I didn't lie. You saw me enraged," he murmured. "I let loose everything in me for the fight. It created some physical changes, yes, but I am nothing like them, Maya. I swear to you, I am _not_ a Daimon."

She couldn't even look him in the face. "What are you?" she whispered, shaking so hard her teeth chattered. "What is that thing Jay called you—Dark-Hunter?"

Acheron rubbed her back soothingly, fighting the urge to use his powers to calm her. He wouldn't do that to her. She was his beloved, not some anonymous mortal to be manipulated for his convenience. If he couldn't win her honestly he didn't deserve her at all. "A Dark-Hunter is an immortal protector of mankind," he replied as gently as he possibly could. "There are thousands of us. I am their leader."

She shuddered and tried to pull away from him again. He didn't let her. "Maya, I live and die to protect humankind from those things that attacked you tonight, things that would have drained your blood and devoured your soul. Yes, I am powerful, more than you can imagine even now. I've slain a god and taken his powers for my own, but I would never use my strength to harm you. I will always protect you with my life, with every bit of power I possess, just as I did tonight. You have no cause to fear me, love!"

He wasn't sure she'd heard a word he'd just said. She lay silent and resisting for a long, endless minute that was torture to him. Then, as though she couldn't stop herself from asking, "How old—" She couldn't finish the question.

He sighed and threaded his fingers in her long hair. She really wasn't going to like this. "Eleven thousand, five hundred and fifty two years." Then, because he didn't think she could possibly get any more frightened, he told her the rest of it. "I'm from Atlantis. I was born royal but lived as a slave, the lowest of the low, a shame on my family simply because of my eyes and powers—things I couldn't help, things I would have gladly given up had I ever been given that choice. When I was murdered at twenty-one my soul cried out at the injustice of it, which attracted the attention of a goddess who offered me a bargain. My soul, for immortality and Vengeance. I took the bargain. It is how all Dark-Hunters come into being."

She was moaning, no longer trying to get away but definitely not curling against him as she had every night since she'd found him shot in the kitchen. She lay there as if her shock and terror held her immobile, as though she feared that the slightest movement on her part would set him off in an explosion of violence. More energy fed the storm as he ached from the impact of her fear.

"I don't believe you," she whimpered. "It's impossible!"

He cupped her cheek in his hand, hating that he was still scaring her but not knowing what else to do but go on. "I've spent the last eleven and a half thousand years hunting Daimons, protecting mankind," Acheron told her. "You saw them, Maya. I and my Hunters are all that stand between mankind and an existence as cattle, an enslaved food-source. I am a protector, love, not a monster."

It didn't get through to her. He was starting to feel desperate. "Maya, please look at me. Do you think I like telling you these things, putting that fear in your eyes? Look at me and see that I'd never hurt you!"

She covered her face with her hands. He caught the briefest glimpse of her thoughts and could have wept at her memory of him, fangs bared, blood-red eyes flashing death as he ripped mercilessly through the Daimons. He would have given anything for her never to have seen him that way. "What will you do to me if I don't do what you want?"

He groaned and rolled with her, sliding one heavy thigh across her legs to stop her from bolting. "I might kiss you," he said, cupping her face in his hands and burying his face in her hair. "If that doesn't work I don't know what I'll try next. But if you mean will I do something unpleasant to you, force your compliance or something ridiculous like that, the answer is no. Never, Maya. I would stand still and let you walk away from me before I violated your free will or harmed you."

She drew in a breath and opened her mouth, and Acheron knew without even touching her mind that she was about to ask him to let her do just that. Panic swamped him. Hearing those words might kill him and he did the only thing he could think of to stop it. He kissed her, taking advantage of her parted lips to sweep his tongue inside, fighting her resistance with tender seduction.

At last the rigidity of her body eased as she was unable to resist his gentleness, so at odds with the brutal mental image. Acheron kissed her again and again, pouring his love directly into her mind, needing her to feel it, needing her to believe it. "Don't ask me to let you go," he whispered against her lips between kisses. "If you want me to beg, I will. I need you, Maya. I'll do whatever you ask of me. Just don't send me away."

She finally opened her eyes and looked at him, even though her fear was still shining from her eyes. "Are you keeping any more secrets from me?" she whispered. "Tell me, Ash. Tell me everything. I don't want any more surprises."

_Thank the gods! _He thought hard, trying to find something that wouldn't be too frightening to start off with. He didn't want to undo the tiny amount of progress he'd made. At last he took her hand and pressed it over the stylized dragon tattoo on his left bicep. "Well, there is the Simi," he said softly. "She is my companion, but she is more like my child. She lives here until I summon her, a part of me."

Maya whimpered and pulled her hand away. "I know I don't want to know," she said. "I don't know why I'm asking. What is a Simi?"

Ash kissed her again, a soft, lingering kiss to remind her of the gentleness he'd always shown to her alone. "Simi," he whispered against her lips as he sat up, taking Maya with him, "you can manifest." _Nothing scary, Sim,_ Ash told the demon silently. Simi could take the form of a young woman or a dragon and be any height from a tiny three-inch pixie to an eighty-foot tall dragon._ Human form, normal size._

He pulled back and Maya saw a stream of black smoke rise from his skin. She watched in amazement as the tattoo vanished and the smoke swirled and thickened into the form of a lithe young woman with long ears, blonde hair, and huge burgundy and black wings. She was very beautiful in a very strange way. "Akri, Simi was starting to think you'd never let me come off your arm ever again," the young woman said accusingly. Then her red-rimmed silver eyes, strangely like Acheron's, widened as she saw him sitting on the bed with his arms around Maya. Maya could tell from her reaction that this was something she'd never seen before. "Akri?"

Acheron stroked Maya's back soothingly, feeling her tremble. "Simi, this is Maya," he said. "Maya, meet the Simi, my Charontes demon companion." He bent to whisper in her ear. "Don't worry, love. She's harmless," he reassured her.

Simi gasped in outrage. "Simi is _not_ harmless!" she protested, clearly deeply offended.

Ash smiled at the demon. _I know, Sim, _he thought soothingly at her. Simi was more dangerous than a nuclear bomb and no one but him could control her, but he wasn't about to tell Maya that yet. The whole point of introducing Maya to Simi first was to keep her from being frightened again. "You are harmless to her," he said instead. "You'll never hurt Maya. Isn't that right?"

Simi knew an order when she heard one and grinned at Maya. "Oh, okay, akri, Simi never hurt this one," she agreed warmly in a lilting, musical accent. She peered at Maya's head. "Do you have hornays, too?"

Maya gaped, obviously overwhelmed. "Do I have what-ies?"

Simi reached up and twirled a finger around one small black horn half-hidden in her long hair. "Hornays," she said. "If not, Simi can give you some. Akri likes em, and it looks like akri likes you too. Shouldn't she have hornays, akri?"

Ash could have laughed at the confusion on Maya's face, but he wisely held it in. Simi was naturally captivating and charming, but she could also switch topics with all the strange logic of a child. She only looked like an adult. "Simi," he said, drawing the demon back to the topic at hand, "Maya's safety is more important than my own, at all times, no matter what. You will guard her always. Do you understand?"

Simi nodded at once. "Sure, akri," she said again. "Never harm her, always guard her. You must like her lots, huh?" Then Simi frowned as Ash nodded. "Even though she don't have hornays?"

He did laugh at that. "Yes, Simi."

She nodded. "Okay, you got it, akri," she said. "Can the Simi go see Mama Lo now? She always cooks really good for me."

He waved a hand. "Go," he said. "Remember the rules, Simi, and have fun." The demon disappeared in a flash and Ash turned to look down at Maya, hoping she wasn't too overwhelmed. Simi was the least frightening thing he could think of to share with her right now, but it occurred to him that meeting a demon, no matter how charming, might well be too much for any human. "Maya? Are you all right?"

Maya still stared at the spot where the demon had been. She didn't seem to be able to find her voice. Finally she managed to speak again. "You have a demon," she croaked in shock. "You have a real live demon and it lives on your arm."

He ran his fingers through her hair. Okay, so much for Simi not being frightening. "Yes, she does," he agreed. "She was given to me when she was barely a hatchling, when I was twenty-one. We sort of raised each other. She's the last of her kind and I… well, I indulge her a little. She's still a child," he explained when Maya looked at him like he was insane. "She's a long way from being fully grown."

Maya trembled against him but she didn't try to tear herself out of his arms. "Anything else?" she managed in a hesitant squeak.

He chose his words with care. If Simi had scared her, then everything else he had to tell her would terrify her. "How can I tell you everything about me all at once? I never wanted to keep secrets from you in the first place," he told her softly. "I was bound by Archon's decree that you know nothing about the Dark-Hunters or Daimons. But now I will tell you anything you desire."

"But I though you said you killed a god," she said, confused. "How can a god tell you what to do now?"

Ash rested his forehead against hers. "I've regretted that rash act every day of my life since that moment," he said, infinitely grateful when she only winced at the closeness instead of jerking away. The wince hurt, but this was a step in the right direction. "And Archon is no ordinary god. No, Maya, even a god-slayer is wise not to challenge the head of the pantheon."

"Those gods are really real," she breathed, shivering again. "They really exist?"

"Yes," Acheron said. "They really exist, and most of them are as childish as five year-olds. I try to avoid them as much as possible."

She was gaping at him now. "What do you mean? There are times you have to go meet with the gods or something?"

He sighed. "Quite frequently I have to meet with the goddess who owns my soul and the souls of my Dark-Hunters," he admitted. "As far as childishness goes, she takes the cake. And before you ask, no, I can't slay her either, much as I'd like to. She holds all the Dark-Hunters, and should she die it would be the end of the only warriors that keep the human race safe from the Daimons. I can put up with her crap a lot easier than I could put up with the end of the world as we know it."

"Who is she?" she asked.

Acheron brushed her lips with his. "To name her is to summon her," he said. "I don't want her here, and trust me, you don't either. She won't be too thrilled to learn about you. I'm trying to put it off as long as possible."

Maya suddenly tried to pull away from him again. "I can't believe I'm listening to this," she whispered as though to herself. "This is _impossible._"

He held her against his heart, his grip gentle but unbreakable. "Don't run from me, Maya," he murmured. "Don't run from us."

"Us? _Us?"_ she gasped. "Was there ever really such a thing? From what you've told me, you're practically a god yourself. You're so high above me I'm just waiting for lightning to strike me for even daring to look at you. I can't—"

He cut her off with another kiss. "You're wrong, love, so wrong. I told you that it is I who don't deserve you," he whispered. "I meant it, Maya. I don't even have a soul. I have so much ugliness in my heart and blood on my hands I shouldn't even touch you, but I can't help myself. _ I love you. _ I didn't plan it. It just happened." He searched her face, his swirling silver eyes intense as he gathered his courage and laid everything on the line. "You were once upset that Kyrian and Nick knew more of me than you did. Now you know more about me than anyone, mortal or god. Can you love me, all of me, as you once loved just the glimpse I let you see of me?"

Maya was still shaking, still frightened, and it was taking every ounce of self-control Acheron possessed not to erase these memories from her. He had the power to do so easily and he wanted her to look at him with trust and love again, not this fear that tore at his already raw and bleeding heart. But he couldn't do that to her, not after he'd promised to protect her and never lie to her. He waited in agony for her answer.

"You're immortal," she whispered at last. "You really are immortal?"

He could have wept. No answer was almost the same as a flat refusal. "Yes," he replied, keeping his voice steady and sending the overflow of his turmoil out into the atmosphere, further fueling the storm. Hail battered the windows. "I will never age, and only a very few extreme things can kill me."

Her eyes filled with tears. "Then it doesn't matter if I love you or not, does it?"

Acheron's heart pounded with emotions so volatile that the storm outside reached near hurricane proportions. "How could it not matter? Nothing else in the world matters to me!"

"Because I'm going to grow old and die and you'll stay just like you are, young and handsome and perfect, and—"

He cut her off with another kiss. "Don't borrow tomorrow's worries," he murmured against her lips. "We can solve any problem, even this one." _Don't make me leave you,_ he whispered in her mind. _Love me, trust me, as you once did. _

"Will you always be a Dark-Hunter? Can you—quit or something?"

He pressed a kiss to her forehead. He couldn't seem to stop kissing her. He was afraid if he stopped he'd never get the chance again. "The goddess holds my soul," he said. "The only way for me to be freed would be if she agreed to give it back to me, which she won't, and if you returned it to me at the moment of my death."

She glanced up sharply. "Me?" Then, looking at him in horror, "_Death?"_

"Yes, Maya, you," Ash confirmed, resting his forehead against hers. "Only strong emotion can make a soul move, and it only does so at the moment of death. When the goddess took my soul at the moment of my mortal death, it was anger, betrayal, injustice. To bring it back takes an equally strong emotion—love." He kissed her once more before he pulled back and looked into her eyes. He willed her to see the truth there. "You are the only person on Earth I've ever loved, Maya. The only one I will ever love."

Her disbelief shone from her eyes before she looked away. "You've loved a woman before," she said. "Believe me, it shows. Besides, you've lived so long you've probably been in love a thousand times."

He gently grasped her chin and drew her back until he could look into her eyes again. "I've never been in love before you," Acheron countered. "Yes, I know how to please a woman, Maya, but that's only sex. Others have touched my body. You touch my heart."


	24. Chapter 24

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

He felt it at last, the tension in her body slowly easing. He fought against the strong urge to seduce her, to love her until she couldn't think, to use all he'd learned—by force and by choice—over the last thousands of years to addict her to his body and all that he could make her feel.

He refused. That was just another kind of brainwashing. He wanted her mind and her heart, not just her lust.

"Maya, love, does all this change everything so drastically?" Ash asked urgently. He was begging but he found he didn't care. Pride didn't matter. Maya was all that mattered and he was willing to do anything to keep her, get down on his knees and crawl if that was what it took. "I am the same man who held you last night, the same man who tickled you in the living room. You know me, Maya. I've never hidden myself from you, only what I do. You know my heart and my mind." He brushed her lips with his, again resisting the desire to kiss her senseless. "You loved me once, Maya."

"I still love you," she whispered. "All this scares me, but I do love you. I'm not sure I could stop."

His hoarse triumphant shout was muffled against her mouth as he kissed her with all the passion and relief in his ancient heart. This time he did kiss her until she clung to him, breathless and fiercely aroused. After seeing her in such danger tonight he needed this as much as he needed air, needed to feel her unhurt, alive, every nerve quivering with passion, but finally he forced himself away.

She'd taken a baby step, but he wanted her to walk with him forever. She hadn't yet agreed to stay with him, and nothing less would ever be enough.

"Don't ever leave me again," he whispered hoarsely, burying his face in her hair and letting her scent surround him. "I'm begging you, baby. I can't take it. I've never been so frightened in my life."

Maya ran her fingers through his hair, hardly able to believe she had any kind of hold over this incredible man. The shivers that ran through his body when her fingertips brushed his scalp and the sensitive skin of his neck only confirmed it. The raw power, the unleashed violence she'd seen in him tonight had scared her to death, but now when he held her so tenderly it was hard to remember that fear. Yes, he'd decimated the—what did he call them? Daimons?—when he'd burst into that room, taking down everyone and everything that threatened her without mercy. He'd unleashed a killing rage so vicious the walls had shaken and every hair on her body had stood on end.

But he'd done it to save her life.

And that was the key, she realized. Acheron had known that seeing him do those things would scare her to death, but when she'd needed him, he hadn't hesitated. He'd rather have her frightened and alive, even if she left him from that fear, than see her hurt because he'd held back. He'd vowed to protect her with his life and he'd done it. He had kept her safe, had been willing to single-handedly take on at least thirty opponents to ensure it.

And he would do it again if necessary, even if she left him. He was right. She knew him, knew he would protect her until the end of her days even if she never saw his face again. He wouldn't break his vow to her.

She loved him, this complex and powerful man. He'd saved her life and she'd rewarded him with fear and distrust, but instead of being angry at her lack of gratitude, he'd held her tenderly and tried to explain away her fears instead of letting her run. She loved him all the more for his patience when he clearly had the ability to force her compliance.

She ran a hand over his shoulders, down his back. "Did they hurt you?"

He raised his head and looked down at her, and she could tell he was hesitating over his answer. Finally he replied. "No, they didn't hurt me, love. Nothing can harm me unless I allow it."

Maya touched his face. "But I hurt you."

Acheron turned his head and kissed her hand. "I would never interfere with your free will," he murmured. "If it would make you happy I would give you the means to destroy me and stand still for you to do it. You are free to do anything you wish to me and always will be."

She smiled up at him. She was glad Archon had mended her body from the traumas of her pregnancy and the birth because she was realizing that she wasn't nearly close enough to Ash right now. "What if I want you to hold me? To make love to me?" she whispered. "Right now that would make me very happy."

His eyes blazed as his sensual mouth curved in a smile at last and relief glowed in his eyes. "Your happiness is everything to me," he promised as his hand slowly slid over her to cup her breast. "Does this mean you're going to stay with me?" he asked softly even as he eased her back on the bed.

Maya threaded her fingers into his hair and drew his mouth down to hers. "Yes," she whispered just before touching his mind and showing him all the love in her soul.

He kissed her slowly, exploring her as though he had all the time in the world. She felt moisture on her cheeks and didn't know whose tears rolled along her skin. In that moment it didn't matter. His incredible powers, his unbelievable age, the danger of his life—none of it could change the truth in her heart. _I love you,_ she told him silently, meaning it as she never had before.

_You will never regret it,_ he assured her even as he savored her mouth, every soft sweep of her tongue against his. _I have never broken a promise to you, love, and I promise you this now. I will make you happy every day of your life. _She sighed and gave herself up to him, heart and body and soul. It had to be the sweetest moment of his entire life.

Someone pounded on the bedroom door at that instant and Ash had to fight every instinct he possessed to keep from vaporizing them, sight unseen, for the heinous crime of interrupting such a kiss. He'd gone too long without feeding as it was and he was far too close to the edge for anyone to test his tenuous restraint now, especially after the night he'd just had. _"Go away," _he growled, his voice echoing through the room and cutting through the heavy door as though it was made of tissue before reclaiming Maya's lips. He needed the connection with her to anchor him, to keep him sane as she had over the last glorious month.

Her laughter filled his mind even as the pounding started up again, undeterred. _I don't think they're going away,_ she murmured to him.

_I don't care,_ Ash growled right back, his hand sliding from her breast to her thigh in a long caress that made her whimper. His kiss became almost desperate. _I almost lost you twice tonight and I'm not ready to share you yet. If they had any sense at all they'd back off and leave us alone. _

"Acheron! I want to see my sister and I know she's in there!"

Ash groaned and broke the kiss. "You see?" he rasped in her ear. "Nick has never had any sense whatsoever."

Maya laughed again. "He won't go away until he sees me, you know."

Acheron sat up with her, grumbling. She kissed him lightly before slipping off the bed and straightening her clothing as he came to stand right behind her, so close she could feel the heat coming off his body. She leaned back against him and his arms went around her.

The door swung open on its own, revealing Nick standing there with his fist raised to knock again. Acheron glared at him from over Maya's head. "Make it fast," he snapped at the Squire, making sure Nick saw his fangs fully extended and the red glare in his eyes. He still hadn't quite gotten over his fury at the Squire, although he was fairly sure administering a good beating might alleviate some of his hostility.

Maya wouldn't like that, though, and Ash wouldn't do anything more to upset her tonight. Her brother was safe—for now.

But Nick sure as hell didn't need to know it.

Nick shied away from Ash's glare as he ran to Maya. "You're okay? You're not hurt?" he demanded, grabbing her and pulling her away from Acheron to hug her tightly.

Ash didn't appreciate that at all and his anger at the Squire escalated dangerously. He would never look kindly on anyone pulling Maya away from him, brother or not. "You think I wouldn't keep her safe?" he growled.

Nick shot him a very unwise look. "Maya, I need you to come with me, I have to talk to you," he said urgently. "Now, before you agree to anything here."

"Nick, you are on seriously thin ice." Ash's tone sent a shiver down his spine.

But Maya merely rolled her eyes at both of them. "I know about Ash, Nick," she said quietly. "Everything about him. I know what you were trying to tell me. It's all right."

Nick's eyes widened in shock. "_It's all right?_ You can't mean that, sis. Surely you're not stupid enough to still want him after that!" he cried. "You _want_ him to break your heart when he leaves? Because he will leave, Maya. And how can you know what you really feel about him, anyway? He could make you think or feel whatever he wants!"

A heartbeat later he was up against the wall, pinned and staring down at an enraged Acheron. "You go too far," he snarled.

"Go ahead, break me in half," Nick goaded. "Let her see you as you really are!"

"Don't tempt me, boy." It was already taking all his control not to smash the Squire. How dare Nick continue to try to scare his soulmate, his gift from the gods themselves, away from him?

"Nick, I've already seen and I really don't want to see it again tonight, so I'd appreciate it if you'd quit pushing your luck. I love you both. I'm not going to choose between you."

That quavering note in her voice was the only thing that let Acheron release Nick unharmed and step back. The last thing he wanted was to frighten her again, and he had little doubt that she wouldn't look kindly on him thrashing her brother no matter how much he deserved it. But it was so hard to restrain the impulse! "You love your sister, you try to protect her, and that is commendable," he said to Nick, his low tone vibrating with rage. "But she will never need protecting from me. I won't leave her and I would never interfere with her feelings or her choices. I'm not a monster."

Maya stepped between them and faced Nick. "Don't worry about me, Nick," she said softly, taking his cold hands in hers. "Ash won't hurt me."

"Hasn't he already?" Nick countered. "What about your baby, sis? Doesn't that count?"

"Ash had nothing to do with that," Maya said, stepping back and wrapping her arms around herself as the pain of loss tore through her again. "That started before I met him and was Archon's doing. I… I'll have other babies."

Ash put his hands on her shoulders and drew her to him as he felt the waves of sadness and loss coming off Maya. Again he fought the strong urge to crush the Squire. "You're hurting her now far more than I ever have," he growled at Nick. "Go away, Nick, and let me comfort my woman in peace." The use of the possessive phrase was deliberate and Nick's darkening frown told Ash he'd gotten the message.

"Maya, you won't have babies from _him!"_ Nick persisted, pointing angrily at Acheron. "Dark-Hunters can't have children. Don't you understand? He's going to take everything you have and he's incapable of giving you anything in return. Don't you want a family, sis? A real, normal family with children?"

Unable to speak, Maya turned and looked up at Ash, her broken heart in her eyes.

He shook his head firmly before she could even ask the question. "No, Maya," he said, holding her gaze as he felt Nick's anger growing to match his own. "He's wrong."

"Damn you, Acheron, don't you dare lie to her about this!" Nick shouted. "Maya, all Dark-Hunters are made sterile. Artemis doesn't want them to have families to tie them down and make them vulnerable. You're a damn good fighter, but you're no match for the things that would try to kill you just to take revenge on him for what he is. If you stay with him you'll be hunted and childless for the rest of your—"

Maya let out a little sob and Ash had had enough. Nick's voice vanished as if cut off with a switch. "You've violated your Oath of Silence enough for one night," Acheron said coldly as he drew her into his arms. "You're giving Dark-Hunter secrets, you're trying to frighten Maya again, and to top it off you're way deep in my business, any of which would normally be enough to incite me to send you out that door in pieces." He looked back down at Maya. "You'd better be damned glad your sister loves you, Nick."

Maya couldn't look away from Acheron's awe-inspiringly handsome face, his swirling eyes. She didn't care a thing about being hunted by Daimons, but if he'd neglected to tell her something this important—he knew how she'd wanted that baby! "Is he telling the truth?" she asked Ash. "You can't—?" She couldn't even say it.

He cupped her cheek and opened his mind fully to her, letting her see all the way through him and find the truth for herself. Never had he thought he would allow anyone to do that, but Maya was special. He would do anything for her.

"He's wrong," he answered her question aloud, wanting to give her the reassurance of his voice too. "For every other Dark-Hunter it's true, but I'm different from them in many ways and it's not true for me. I can give you children, Maya." He glared back at Nick. "If your brother would leave us alone, that is."

"There's nothing I can say to change your mind, is there?" Nick asked her when she rested her head against Ash's chest, practically going limp with relief.

She looked at her brother and shook her head. "I don't need to be protected," she replied simply. "I love him, Nick. He won't hurt me."

Nick just shook his head. "I hope you're right," he said. Then he spun around and strode out without another word, slamming the door behind him.

Acheron sighed and pulled Maya so close their bodies touched and melded from thigh to shoulder. "Talk about ruining a mood," he grumbled, anger and the desire to punish the Squire still warring in his mind with his love for Maya and his relief to have her back in his arms.

She laughed against his chest. "He's just worried about me," she said softly. "You'd have done the same for your sister—if you had one. Do you—I mean, did you?" she added, raising her head.

He groaned. "Oh, this is a definite step down," he teased. "Going from making love back to twenty questions! Yes, I had a younger sister who died long ago. I have a twin brother who is still living." His face tightened with those words and all desire to laugh or tease died. "Should you ever see me with sunglasses on, make me take them off. It's the only way to tell us apart."

Her eyes widened. "Are you saying your twin would hurt me?"

He sighed and nodded. "Were Styxx to get free and find you, he would do things to you I don't even want to think about," he said. "We're not exactly on speaking terms."

"Is he like you?" she asked, waving a hand in a manner that seemed to encompass his powers, his charismatic aura, everything supernatural about him.

He shrugged. "We are alike in looks alone," he told her. "He has no magic."

Maya frowned in confusion. "Then how is he still—"

"Our life-forces are bound," Ash said, hating it even as the words passed his lips. "From birth the Fates knit the threads of our lives together to prevent my parents from killing me at their first sight of my eyes. Now as long as I live, he lives, kept in comfortable confinement in the Elysian Fields while I've wandered through time alone."

She didn't know which shocking revelation in all that to speak to first. Finally she reached up and ran a fingertip beneath his eye. "Why would they even think of harming something so beautiful?" she whispered.

He caught her hand and kissed it, his heart melting at her acceptance. "I told you, you're the only one who thinks so," he replied. "Most people can't even look directly at me, Maya. These eyes have always been seen as a mark of deformity, a sign of the curse that was visited on my family by the gods and a reminder that they couldn't rid themselves of me without losing their Crown Prince in the same stroke."

Maya leaned up and kissed him passionately. "Your eyes are _beautiful_," she told him fiercely. "And you are a _blessing_, not a curse! If they couldn't see that, they were blind and stupid!"

Acheron hugged her tight, her words sinking through him and warming him all the way to his heart. His anger shriveled before it. "Come back to bed," he whispered in her ear. "Let me love you, Maya. Let me be just a man to you tonight."

She smiled up at him, her eyes so soft and loving he wanted to drown in them. Without another word she took his hands and led him back to the bed, letting him tumble down with her onto the welcoming softness. He rolled onto his side and pulled her close, leaning down to capture her mouth in a kiss that curled her toes and made her moan and cling to him.

But they were only allowed a moment before a shriek of rage shattered the air. Maya jumped but Acheron only tightened his arms around her, refusing to break the kiss. _Don't,_ he thought to her urgently as she tried to lift her head to see who had intruded. _Don't look at her. Don't speak, no matter what she says or does. This is Artemis, the goddess who owns my soul, and she will likely try to kill you for being with me._

Her hands tightened in his hair and Ash felt her outrage at the thought of someone owning him. Her indignation far outweighed any fear she might have had of the goddess. His heart swelled with love. _I trust you to keep me safe,_ Maya murmured in his mind, and he thought he would burst with it.


	25. Chapter 25

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

"Acheron!" Artemis screamed. "I demand you release that disgusting mortal!"

_Don't say or do anything,_ he cautioned Maya again before pulling reluctantly away. "Your manners are atrocious, Artemis," he said softly, still looking down at Maya with his heart in his eyes. Just the sight of it was enough to hold Maya immobile even without his warning. He caressed her face gently. "Don't you know not to intrude when people are busy?"

The overhead light shattered, showering them with glass. "How _dare_ you!"

Acheron sighed and sat up, holding Maya and carefully keeping his body between her and the enraged goddess at all times. "Temper, temper," he chided, turning to look at Artemis at last only when Maya was safely hidden behind him.

Maya got her first glimpse of Artemis over Ash's shoulder. Tall and willowy with the kind of perfect beauty Maya had always envied, the goddess stood there trembling with rage, her hand outstretched as though she just itched to fling some kind of fatal weapon at the woman Ash so carefully shielded. Maya's eyes narrowed at the sight of her gauzy white peplos that revealed more than it covered.

Now why would she wear something like _that_ to simply meet with the head of her Dark-Hunters? It was something one would wear for a lover!

_You've guessed rightly,_ Acheron's weary voice whispered in her mind. _That's why she'll stop at nothing to get rid of you—she has always considered me her property. There is more to this story, love, and I will gladly tell you everything, but don't stop trusting me now. Be as angry with me as you like once this danger to you has passed, all right?_

Maya swallowed the questions and hurt. _All right,_ she replied, placing her hand on his back to reassure him that she wasn't angry. He'd already saved her life once tonight and it looked like she would need him to do it again now. Now was not the time to get upset about his past love-life.

"You told me you had no mortal lover!" Artemis accused furiously.

"At the time I didn't," Ash replied calmly. "As you can see, things have changed. Now, was there something you needed or are you just here to bother me?"

Maya's eyes widened at his tone. Whatever was between him and Artemis, Acheron certainly didn't speak to her the same way he'd spoken to Archon! There was no awe and definitely no respect in his voice or his words.

It clearly irked Artemis. She glared at him and stomped her foot. Maya was strongly reminded of a toddler having a temper tantrum. "You were blocking me to be with _her!"_ she cried, pointing at Maya angrily.

He shrugged. "And your point is?"

This time it was the mirror that shattered. "You forget to whom you speak!"

Maya felt the leashed power in him surge as the muscles of his back tightened beneath her hand. He stood slowly, a predator uncoiling from his perch, and took a step toward Artemis. "No," he said, his voice so low it sent a shiver down her spine. _"You_ forget to whom _you_ speak." He reached out and slapped her outstretched hand away. "I will not allow you to threaten her," he growled.

Maya fought not to gape in astonishment when the goddess actually stepped back as though intimidated by his anger. All right, so he'd told her he was a god-slayer, but it was something completely different to actually watch him face down a goddess and win.

Artemis changed tactics. She reached out a hand and slid it slowly up his arm and over his chest. "Acheron," she purred, "I will forgive you this little dalliance. You and I both know no mortal can hold you. You have… appetites… only I can satisfy. Haven't you thought of that?"

Rage burst through Maya at the sight of another woman's hands on Ash's body. _Don't move!_ Ash commanded as she clenched her fists. _Stay right where you are, Maya. Ignore her. She is but a minor nuisance that will be gone momentarily._ "I will be fine," he said, taking the goddess's hand and lifting it from his body, holding it by the wrist as though it was a poisonous spider.

Artemis laughed. "We both know you won't," she said, a gloating note in her heavily accented voice. "We both know what will happen. It's close already, isn't it?" Ash didn't answer and she laughed again. "I'll be waiting when you call to me in need, Acheron. No one else would do for you what I do." She shot a venomous glare over his shoulder at Maya. "You can't survive on _that._"

Maya didn't look away, ignoring Ash's directive not to look at Artemis. She glared right back, refusing to back down. Let that bitch know she wasn't dealing with some delicate little flower—Maya was both ready and able to fight for her man, and goddess or not, she wouldn't stand idly by while another woman tried to take him.

Artemis gave her a cold little smile. "How cute," she said with mock-sweetness. "You've taught your pet to attack. I wonder what else you've trained it to do."

"Enough!" Ash snapped, raising his own hand just as Artemis had. "Get out before I forget myself and hurt you."

The goddess pouted prettily and stepped forward, trying to force his outstretched fingers to brush her barely-covered breast. He moved his hand so that it caught her in the center of the chest instead and shoved her back. "Get out," he repeated coldly. "I'm not interested. To tell you the truth, I haven't been interested in about ten thousand years."

Artemis only smiled and fluttered her lashes. "I'll be waiting," she said. Then her face turned cold and hard as stone. "And Acheron, when you call me, be prepared to crawl like the slave you are." With that she vanished.

"Shameless, arrogant bitch!" Maya snapped at the spot where Artemis had been.

Ash laughed as he turned back to her. His laughter surprised him. Maya could do that to him, make him happy no matter what. "You just had to say it, didn't you?"

She jumped off the bed and crossed her arms over her chest. "How could you put up with that attitude for so long?" she demanded as she paced angrily. "Showing up here dressed like a whore on a corner, expecting you to jump at the crook of her finger!"

Acheron caught her in mid-stride and swung her around. "Ah, Maya, you delight me," he grinned. "And to think, I thought to protect _you_ from _her!"_

She glared. "I'd like five minutes alone with her," she growled. "That woman seriously needs her ass kicked. Your pet indeed!"

He silenced her with a kiss. When she was breathless and clinging to him he lowered her to her feet, letting her slide down the length of his body before her feet touched the floor. "My beloved," he murmured. "My world."

She hugged him tight. They stood like that for several minutes before she lifted her head. "All right, so tell me," she said, tracing her fingers down his cheek. "Not about being her lover—I'm not stupid, I figured that out. Tell me about the rest."

He sighed. He didn't want to admit Artemis had been right about anything but he couldn't ignore the bitter truth of her words. He lifted Maya in his arms and carried her to the love-seat beside the window. "I want you to know I haven't been with her since meeting you," he said, trying to put off the moment when he would have to tell her. "Not since you broke down the gates." He wanted to bury his face in her hair so he wouldn't have to see her expression, but she deserved to look into his eyes while he told her this. She'd accepted everything else about him—he only prayed she could accept this, too.

Maya kissed his cheek. "I know," she murmured. Then she smiled at his hesitation. "Let me try to make this easier for you, Ash. I've noticed that you don't eat. She talked about appetites. I'm pretty smart for a mere mortal," she added when he looked stunned. "Now can you tell me?"

He sighed and kissed the tip of her nose. "You're incredible, not just pretty smart," he said. "Do you believe me when I tell you that I am not a vampire?"

She nodded without hesitation. "If those things that attacked me tonight were vampires, then yes, I believe you're not a vampire," she said. "Are you telling me you live on human blood, Ash?"

"No," he said, shaking his head and holding her eyes. "Not human blood, Maya."

Her eyes widened. "Oh boy," she breathed. "You—you take _her_ blood?"

He nodded. "If I go too long without feeding, I lose all emotions. Every trace of compassion, any ability to be kind or gentle. That is what she referred to."

Maya had gone pale but she laughed unexpectedly. "You can't tell me you get any of that from _her_. I'd think she'd poison you instead."

Ash looked deeply into her eyes, searching for hysteria. He didn't see it, but still, this was nothing like the reaction he expected. "Maya, do you understand what I'm saying?" he asked softly. "She was right. I will have to call her eventually. She is the only one willing to supply me with what I need. If I don't…"

Maya looked up at him, her smile turning sad. "It's all right, Ash," she whispered. "I always knew I couldn't keep you, even when I thought you were just a normal man who happened to be psychic. I've never allowed myself to hope for it. You're just too far beyond my reach." She rested her forehead against his chest. "Don't be sorry," she added, obviously feeling it in his mind. "Every minute with you is worth any pain that comes in the end."

"No, Maya," Ash said, his voice quiet but firm as steel as he laid his cheek on her head. "We will find another way. I will not resign myself to losing you!"

A crack like thunder split the air but Maya didn't even look up this time. "Is this a bedroom or Grand Central Station?" she groaned.

But Acheron had gone rigid. Maya looked up and saw Archon standing not five feet from them, looking down at them with an expression of intense disappointment. "Oh!" she gasped, scooting quickly off Ash's lap to sit beside him, feeling like a teenager whose father had caught her necking with her boyfriend.

He smiled at her, but his eyes were still disapproving. "Are you two ever going to figure it out?" he said sternly. "Honestly, Acheron. I expected better of you."

Ash's mouth opened but he didn't speak. He seemed to be struggling for his voice. Maya squeezed his arm and answered for him. "It's been a long day," she said. She didn't know quite how to speak to a god, but she couldn't think of any title to call him that made any sort of sense. Sire? My Lord? Your Godship? "Um, can you give me a hint?" She nudged Ash with an elbow surreptitiously, wishing he'd help out. "I am just a mortal, you know, and not too smart about all these supernatural god things."

Archon's eyes twinkled and he looked amused at her reply as he waved a hand. An armchair appeared from the nothingness and he sat down, seeming completely at ease. "And that's the key to everything, Maya," he said. "Do you not remember that I promised to bestow any gift you choose in thanks for giving me life again?"

Maya blinked. She _had_ forgotten. "Oops," she said. Clearly now was the time to choose her gift, but she had no idea what to ask for. She looked back at Acheron in confusion. "I don't know how to do this, Ash. Help me out!"

But Ash was looking at Archon with sudden hope. "Can you lift this from me?" he asked.

Archon rolled his eyes and sat forward. "You have your reward," he said coolly. "This is for Maya. Look at me, little one." Maya forced herself to meet those blazing eyes. "Now, think. Do you want to stay with this man?"

She nodded at once. "More than anything."

"But he needs divine sustenance," Archon said. "Correct?"

Maya's heart constricted. She had just started to hope that there was a way for them. "He'll have to return to that vile goddess no matter what," she said sadly.

Archon made a sound of impatience. "Unless he found another goddess to supply him," he said. His eyes were intense, boring into hers. "_Think,_ Maya!"

And suddenly she knew. Her jaw dropped. "You mean—you can't mean me?"

Archon smiled and sat back. "Is there any problem you have that this wouldn't solve?" he replied. "You are mortal, your beloved is ageless. You are human while he has need of the divine. As a mortal, Artemis could crush you the moment he leaves your side—and I promise you she would—but as a goddess, you would have the power to fight back." He spread his hands. "Problems solved, Maya."

Acheron sat still as a stone, not even responding to her mental appeals for his advice. She found his hand and squeezed tightly, trying to get his attention. "What about—would I be able to have children?" she asked hesitantly.

Archon nodded. "Yes, you would be able to have all the children you want," he said. "Your children would be immortal unless they chose to give it up."

Maya's mind spun. _Help me, Ash! _she pleaded in his mind. _I don't know what to ask. You know how to deal with gods. Talk to me!_

Archon smiled as though hearing her silent plea. "I think he doesn't want to sway your choice," he said gently. "He is afraid his emotions will color your decision." She stared up at him, at his completely blank face. He didn't meet her eyes or change expression, just sat there staring at the god, and she knew Archon was right. Ash was leaving her to make this critical decision alone.

She didn't want him to. She looked back at Archon. who was smiling approvingly at Ash. "It's not easy for him, Maya," he said. "He won't ask you to take this despite the yearning of his heart. He would have you happy above all, even if it is without him."

"I would never be happy without him," she said at once. She squeezed his hand again and this time his fingers tightened around hers. _I don't want to make this decision alone,_ she told him silently. _I _can't_ do this alone. Of the two of us, you're the only one who knows how to do this kind of thing. I don't know what to ask. Please, Ash!_

The silence stretched out. _Ask if your soul would be your own,_ his voice said softly in her mind a long minute later, and the relief that surged through her was overwhelming. She desperately needed his advice. _Ask where you would live. _

Archon still smiled at him. "Not on Olympus," he said, answering the unspoken question. "You know of Katoteros, Acheron. I have taken part of it for my own. Basi already has a palace there. It will be the home of the Atlantean gods, and Maya's home should she wish it. And I am not like Artemis, demanding souls for immortality. Maya's divinity would be a gift. Her soul would remain her own."

Maya looked back at the god in cautious hope. "Could I make Artemis give him his soul back?" she asked hesitantly.

Archon sighed. "No one can force another to relinquish a soul," he said. "I am sorry, Maya. But as a goddess, you would have a far more advantageous position from which to bargain with her."

"No," Acheron said, breaking his silence for the first time. "You will not bargain with Artemis for anything, and especially not for me. I will not have you put yourself in that viper's debt."

Maya bit her lip, her mind whirling. Archon waited patiently, allowing her ample time to think it over. "I could come back here to visit?" she asked. "I wouldn't be stuck in this Kato-place for all eternity?"

Archon laughed. "Of course. I am offering you a gift, Maya, not a prison," he said. "You are right to be cautious and I want you to ask all the questions your heart desires. But no trap awaits you, little one. I do not give with one hand and take with the other."

She shivered as the thought of actually being a goddess—a real goddess!—burst across her brain. It sounded too good to be true. "_Are_ there drawbacks?" she asked.

Archon tapped his finger on his chin, thinking about his answer. "Well, you would only be able to stay in the mortal realm for one cycle of the moon at a time without returning to Katoteros, at least briefly. Gods cannot live indefinitely here. Let's see, you could also bring mortals to visit you there, but likewise they could not live there. Oh, and you would never die, so you wouldn't have the opportunity to visit the afterlife." He thought for a moment more. "I think that covers everything."

She gaped at him. "Really?" she asked. It was hard for her to believe those were the only restrictions.

Archon laughed again. "It's good to be a god, Maya," he said. "There are very few restrictions on us. On some of us there are none but the ones we place on ourselves."

Maya thought he looked at Acheron pointedly when he said that last. She glanced up at him again, at that emotionless mask he wore. "Am I missing anything?" she asked him softly. "Help me, Ash. I don't want to make a mistake."

He closed his eyes. _If you want this, make sure you get eternal youth with eternal life,_ he replied after a long moment, and although the tone of his mental voice was almost completely dry, she detected the faintest trace of hope and desperate longing there. She knew then that he'd closed his eyes to keep her from seeing it reflected in them. _Ask when you would have to retire to Katoteros, how long you would have to stay before you could come back._

She looked at Archon, assuming he'd heard every word. He smiled and inclined his head, acknowledging that he had. "Of course you will receive eternal youth," he said. "As well as the ability to alter your appearance in any way that pleases you. You would be required to go to Katoteros after your transformation. You might wish to stay to supervise the construction of your dwelling there, but should you wish to return, you would be able to do so come dawn."

Maya shivered at the decision she was about to make. But she hesitated as the most important consideration suddenly occurred to her. "And Acheron could stay with me always?" she asked. "Or would he be bound by the one month time limit too?"

Archon looked strangely at Acheron at that. "Haven't you told her?" he asked.

Ash opened his eyes and looked at Archon, obviously confused. "I have told her everything, but none of it impacts that time limit."

Archon shook his head. Maya stared at him. The god actually looked amazed. "Do you not know?" he murmured as though to himself. He stared piercingly at Acheron. "By the stars, you don't," he said, his eyes widening. "I was certain you knew. After all you've done, how could you not?"


	26. Chapter 26

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

"Please," Maya said, looking back and forth between them from Archon's astonished face to Acheron's confusion. "Please, Archon, what are you talking about?"

Archon seemed to shake himself. "Acheron," he said quietly. "You are familiar with the stories of Apollymi's child." Ash nodded but Archon kept speaking, clearly explaining for Maya's benefit. "Apollymi is my wife. She was also known as the Destroyer. She is a goddess of vengeance, completely without mercy. When she kindled with child, it caused an uproar in the Pantheon. The Fates told us that she would bear a son to be her heart, her compassion, but who would also possess all her destructive powers. They warned that his birth would herald the death knell of Atlantis and her gods, and they called him Apostolos, the Harbinger of the end. They demanded she kill this son before his birth, but rather than comply, she hid the unborn child away."

Maya covered her mouth with her hand, fully sympathizing with the desperate mother. "What happened to him?"

But Acheron was shaking his head in horror. "No," he whispered.

Archon continued as though Ash hadn't spoken. "She hid Apostolos in the womb of a queen," he said. "She tricked the Fates into weaving the thread of his life with that of the other child so that the parents would not kill him. We—the entire pantheon—were furious that she would so endanger all of us by allowing Apostolos to draw breath, and together we locked her away." He sighed. "Safe in her prison, she was the only god to survive the calamity that destroyed Atlantis."

He fixed his burning eyes on Acheron. "Apart from you," he said. "My son."

"No!" Acheron pushed Maya away and leapt to his feet. He glowered at Archon, but Maya knew him well enough now to see the fear in his eyes. "I won't listen to this! I am not a god. I am not the Harbinger!"

Archon looked at him, his eyes full of love and compassion. "I was certain you knew," he said quietly. "I do not lie, Acheron. You are my son. You are Apollymi's hidden child. I knew you then and I know you now."

"You would accuse me of destroying the entire pantheon, of being the one who will end the world!"

"No," Archon contradicted him calmly. "Your birth was the sign, not the cause. You survived the catastrophe that destroyed every Atlantean on Earth—except you. You have the power to kill and the power to heal. Why do you think I chose Maya, guided her to you? I knew your powers—I had a part in giving them to you. I knew you could keep her safe. But more than that, I wanted to see my son find happiness, the son who once came to me in pain and in need and asked for my help. I wanted to give you what you needed, late as I was. I wanted to guide my son to his soulmate at long last and see you gain the love you have always deserved."

_"No!"_

"Artemis took your soul, but even she knows you are the more powerful," Archon persisted. "I am certain she knows the truth. Think, Acheron! Is there any other explanation that fits?"

Maya felt the turmoil and pain coming off of Acheron in chaotic waves and rushed to him. She threw her arms around his waist and clung to him despite his attempts to push her away. "No, Maya, don't touch me," he demanded in agony. "Did you not hear him? I am death incarnate!"

She squeezed him tighter, refusing to let him go. "You are the same man you were five minutes ago," she said softly. "You are the man I love."

He caught her wrists and pulled her arms from around him. "Apostolos is the Harbinger of the end of the world, Maya. You should be running as fast as you can to get away from me!"

She turned her hands and laced her fingers through his. "You are Acheron, not Apostolos," she said firmly. "Whatever name they called you, whatever legend they had about you, doesn't matter. You haven't destroyed the world. You haven't brought death and destruction. For heaven's sake, you're Marissa's godfather! Are you going to kill her? Are you going to kill me?"

He looked at her in horror. "No! How could you think I could do such a thing?"

She squeezed his hands tight. "I don't think it," she said soothingly. "This Harbinger, that isn't you. Archon said some gods have no restrictions but what they choose to place on themselves. That's true of you, isn't it? You can do anything, but you _choose_ to protect mankind. You _choose_ to be patient with my brother even though he infuriates you. You _choose_ to be gentle with Marissa, and with me." She stepped closer and put her arms around his resisting body. "It is what you choose to be that matters, Ash," she whispered. "Not what you could be. Not what they feared you would be. And I love the man you have chosen to be."

He shuddered. Suddenly his arms were around her, holding her so tightly it was difficult to breathe, but she didn't mind. She squeezed him back just as hard. "Maya, sweet Maya—you are wiser than Athena, more loving than Aphrodite. You deserve to be a goddess," he whispered.

She laughed breathlessly against his chest. "Only if I have you," she said. "Otherwise I don't want it. Eternity without you would be unbearable."

Archon rose to his feet. "Is your decision made, Maya? You are certain?"

She turned in Acheron's arms and nodded. "Yes," she said, biting her lip against a sudden rush of fear. "Yes, I'm sure."

He smiled. "Don't be afraid," he said. He looked at Acheron. "Epithymia does not wish to return. Can you think of anyone more suited to take her place?"

Ash looked down at her, feeling the question in her mind. "She was the goddess of desires," he murmured. "She could make any wish come true, and it was said that to touch her was to have your deepest desires granted." He placed a kiss on her forehead. "You would be perfect for the job, love."

Maya looked up at him and smiled. "You're the only one I plan on touching," she teased.

"Even better," he agreed, some of the tension slowly leaving him.

Archon raised his hands. Maya braced herself for she knew not what, but all she felt was a warming sensation that spread outward from her stomach to the tips of her fingers and toes. She frowned in confusion when Archon lowered his hands and smiled at her. "Was that it?" she asked uncertainly.

He laughed. "You want sparks and fireworks? You can do those yourself now."

She shrugged and tried to smile. "Did it work? I don't feel any different."

"Would you enjoy being a goddess if you no longer felt like yourself?" Archon countered.

"You've got a point there," she admitted. Then she looked up at Ash. "Do we have to go to Kato-whatsit now?"

They both laughed at that. Archon gave Ash a pained look. "Teach her how to say it correctly, will you?" he said.

"I'll work on it," Ash promised. He looked at the tall, magnificent god before him and tried to wrap his brain around the fact that this was his father. He wanted to call him _Father,_ to tell him he believed, but he couldn't quite do it.

Archon nodded in complete understanding. "You have spent thousands of years wondering," he said softly. "And now you know, and it wasn't what you expected. I dared not acknowledge you when you came to my temple all those years ago for fear of the retribution of the other gods. I did not wish to expose you to that, but had I realized all you didn't know, I would have done so regardless of the consequences. I am sorry for my part in your suffering, my son."

"Thank you," Ash said, holding his newly created goddess in his arms. He wanted to say he forgave Archon, but he couldn't yet do that either. His mortal life had been one long horror and his immortality as a Dark-Hunter in servitude to Artemis hadn't been much better. Forgiveness wasn't easy.

"With time all things are possible," Archon said in gentle understanding. He smiled down at Maya. "I leave her teaching to you. Help her learn to use her powers." And after Ash nodded Archon vanished.

Maya shook her head and laughed suddenly. "What?" Acheron asked.

"Just thinking how messed up this family is," she grinned. "I'm your father's mother and your lover. But doesn't that make you my grandson or something?"

He shook his head but couldn't help laughing. "Welcome to the Pantheon," he said. "All the family relationships are like that with the gods. They're either springing out of nothing, born of virgin goddesses, or bursting from one body part or another. Take Athena, she popped out of Zeus's head when Hephaestus split it open. And Aphrodite just materialized out of the foam of the sea. At least I _have_ parents."

Maya's head spun. "Well, then I guess I don't feel quite so bad about it," she laughed. "Now I'm guessing you know how to get to this Kato-thingie because I have no idea, and I know Archon wanted me to go there."

He laughed again. "Katoteros, my love, Katoteros," he corrected gently.

"Okay, Katoteros," she repeated. "Do that flashy-vanishing thing and let's go."

The room vanished and Maya suddenly found herself in an open field. The grass was lush and green, the sky clear and dusted with glittering stars, and Maya couldn't see anything that made her think she was in some divine other dimension. "Are you sure this is the right place?"

He rolled his eyes at her. "How little faith you have in me," he teased. "Would I dare to anger a goddess by taking her to the wrong place?" He pretended to tremble in fear.

She pinched him. "You stop that," she scolded. "I'm sure I'm the wimpiest goddess in the universe because I have no clue what I can do or how to do it. I'm at your mercy here and you know it." She grinned up at him. "Now I'm _really_ your pet!"

"Can I pet you whenever I want?" he asked with a wicked gleam in his eye.

She laughed. "I think some petting is definitely on the agenda," she agreed, slipping her hand under his shirt to caress his chest. "But I thought I was supposed to have some kind of house or something. Where's that?"

He pulled her close, obviously as distracted by her hand on his skin as she was by the luscious feel of his muscles beneath her fingers. "You get to create it," he murmured, bending down to nuzzle her ear.

She arched against him like a cat begging for caresses. "How do I do that?" she purred, scraping her fingernails lightly over his nipple to make him growl.

He pressed a line of hot, open-mouthed kisses along the line of her throat. "If you want me to tell you, you'd better stop that," he said, groaning when her other hand joined the first in her explorations beneath his shirt. "I can't think when you do that."

She leaned forward and bit his shoulder in that way she knew he loved. "Thinking's overrated," she whispered, wishing with all her might that his shirt wasn't in her way. A bare instant later it was gone, leaving a feast of tawny skin before her to enjoy. "Oh, wow! Was that me?" she asked just before she traced her tongue over the spot she'd just bitten.

His breath came fast. "Yes," he said, and even through the desire in his voice, she heard his pride at her small accomplishment. "You can keep practicing on the rest of my clothes," he encouraged.

She laughed, moving her attentions down his hard chest. _"You_ make the house," she murmured against his skin. Her hands slipped to his back and traced down his spine. She swirled her tongue around his nipple, making him shiver from head to toe. "I'm busy."

A moment later she found herself flat on her back on an enormous feather mattress. Maya opened her eyes to see the meadow and night sky still around her as they lay on a huge bed in the middle of the field. She laughed and hugged him tight. "Well, you got the most important part anyway."

"A man's got to have priorities," he agreed against the soft skin of her neck.

Maya ran her hands down his back until they met his jeans, then concentrated on wishing them away. When her hands suddenly touched warm, bare skin she laughed in triumph and wrapped her legs around him. "Oh, I like this power!"

Her clothing likewise vanished. "I'm rather fond of it myself," he murmured in her ear even as he slid deeply into her, making them both moan. "Thank the gods no one can disturb us here," he groaned just before she climaxed around him, her body caressing him right to oblivion with her.

They made absolutely no progress on the creation of her dwelling that night, or the next day.


	27. Chapter 27

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya watched the sunset in awe. The sky was painted in every hue she could imagine, from deep gold to royal purple to delicate green. She snuggled against Ash and drank in the sight. "Now that," she murmured, "looks like paradise."

She felt his lips curve in a smile against the skin of her shoulder and he laced his fingers through hers. "This feels like paradise," he said softly.

Maya turned in his arms. She couldn't agree more. "And we'll have this forever?" she asked. "Together?"

Ash nodded and cupped her cheek. "Forever," he said.

"Are you going to make an honest goddess of me?" The words were out before she thought to hold them back, but she didn't retract them. "Do gods even get married?"

Ash kissed her and took his time about it. "Gods marry," he whispered against her lips. "And it's very simple to do. All it requires is the blessing of Archon, as the head of the Pantheon, and that we speak our vows to each other."

"I think we've got Archon's bit covered," Maya said. She took a deep breath and covered Ash's hand on her cheek with her own. "Acheron, I promise to love and trust you until the end of time, to stand by you every day and hold you every night, whatever comes our way." Then she bit her lip again. "Is that enough?"

She felt him tremble against her. "It's far more than I deserve," he whispered. "Maya, I promise to worship you with everything I am, to love and protect you, to raise our children with you and delight in their making, and never stop thanking the heavens that you're mine." His lips brushed hers, lightly at first and then returning in a kiss that stole her breath. "My wife," he breathed against her mouth.

"My husband." She grinned with pure joy and hugged him tight. "You know, I never thought I'd get married naked."

He laughed. "I never thought I'd get married at all," he said. "And I'm thinking we should consummate this union right now, or possibly sooner." His hands were already moving beneath the silken coverlet and Maya had no desire to resist such a tempting suggestion.

When it was over and Maya was snuggled against him in the starlight, Ash stroked her hair. "It's night again, love. Do you want to stay or return?"

She thought about it for a moment before giggling. "You're just dying to give Nick a heart attack when he finds out about this, aren't you?"

Ash laughed. "Which part?"

She just shook her head at him. "Well, gee, let's see," she teased. "What do you think will freak him out the most? My disappearance? Our marriage? The fact that I'm now a goddess or the fact that you've _always_ been a god?"

His grin turned wicked. "Can I tell him I've been hexing him every time he's smarted off to me?" he asked hopefully.

"You're a bad, bad man," Maya scolded, but then she giggled again and spoiled the effect. Then another thought occurred to her as she ran her fingertips down his bare arm. "Where did our clothes go when we made them disappear?"

He chuckled and shrugged. "Honestly? I have no idea."

Her body wanted to be distracted by the ripple and play of his muscles when he shrugged like that. Maya refused to let it. "Then how do we get them back?"

"Let's see," he murmured. He sat up and gave her naked body a slow, assessing once over that made her blush and raised her temperature several degrees. Then he ran his hand over her a bare inch above her skin, and Maya jumped at the sudden caress of silk on her body.

Ash's eyes narrowed in satisfaction. "Yes, I like that," he said in a low admiring tone. "Any man who looks at you would believe you are the goddess of desire. I think I'll have to blind them all."

Maya glanced down at the beautiful topaz dress Ash had conjured for her. Wrapped almost toga-style, it hinted at her luscious curves and felt like heaven on her skin. Matching golden sandals appeared on her feet, the delicate leather thongs wrapping around her ankles and calves. "Wow," she said, standing and spinning to watch the silk move around her. "This is gorgeous!"

He watched her with a little half-smile that she knew from experience meant his mind was more occupied with thoughts of getting her out of her clothes than admiring her in them. She laughed and shook her finger at him. "Oh, no you don't," she said. "I think you'd better get dressed too before we get totally sidetracked!"

_I'd like to feel that silk against my skin,_ he thought, rising from the bed and catching her in his arms. His palm slipped up to cup her breast. _Beneath my hands._

She shivered even as she pulled away. "Keep your divine hands to yourself, your godliness," she said smartly. He laughed at the title. Then Maya gave him the same slow once-over he'd given her. He was magnificent naked, all golden skin and hard muscle, but if she didn't cover up that gorgeous body quick they'd never leave.

Maya closed her eyes and pictured him in black jeans, tight enough to hug those hard thighs and tight rear of his that she so loved. A silk shirt to go with it—platinum, and open so she could admire his toned chest. She frowned for a moment, thinking, then remembered the black motorcycle boots he'd worn the first time she'd seen him. She held the image in her mind as hard as she could, then peeked at him.

Ash grinned at her, standing there fully dressed just as she'd imagined him. "Very good," he praised, wrapping his arms around her.

She smiled and slid her hands over his bare chest. "Did I forget anything?"

He laughed. "Socks," he said.

"Oops." She quickly pictured them. "Don't want you getting blisters."

"And underwear."

She laughed. "That was on purpose," she said, one hand slipping down to trail a finger lightly over his zipper.

He caught her hand and pressed it hard against him as he claimed her mouth in a long, steamy kiss. "Sure you don't want to stay here?" he murmured against her lips. "I'm sure I could think of some way to entertain you."

Maya pulled her hand reluctantly away from the hard evidence of just how well he could entertain her. "No one knows where we are," she pointed out. "We should reassure them, don't you think?"

He groaned at the loss of her touch. "After last night's many interruptions I tend to think of no one knowing where we are as a _good_ thing," he complained. She laughed at him. "Oh, all right, we'll go back and let your brother know what happened," he sighed. "But we do need to create a home around this bed at some point."

Maya laughed happily as he pulled her back into his arms to whisk them back to Kyrian and Amanda's house. "I told you last night that the house was your job!"

"And you then proceeded to strip me naked and have your wicked way with me," he shot back, grinning. "How am I supposed to think about anything rational when you do things like that?"

"Ahem!"

Maya looked around and found herself back in the Hunter's home, standing in the huge entry hall. She blushed when she realized that quite a crowd was gathered and staring at them, everyone having obviously heard Ash's last words. Kyrian and Amanda just grinned but Nick looked furious. She recognized Vane as well as a couple of other tall warriors she'd never seen before, and they all looked both amused and amazed. She glared up at Ash but couldn't quite keep the mirth from her eyes. _You did that just to embarrass me, didn't you? _she challenged.

He didn't look a bit sheepish. _Why would I embarrass you, love? _he replied innocently. She raised an eyebrow at him and waited. He grinned. _There are several unattached males here, _he admitted at last. _I was just letting them know you're mine._

_How very territorial of you,_ she laughed silently. _I suppose arriving with you draped all over me wasn't enough?_ Then she looked back at the crowd. "A welcoming party," she said with a smile. "How nice of you all to come. Did someone bring drinks?"

Kyrian laughed as Nick scowled. "Where did you go?" he demanded. "We were worried sick about you, Maya!"

"_He_ was worried," Amanda corrected. "Kyrian and I were quite calm, actually."

Nick frowned at her before shrugging. "Whatever," he said. "Where were you?"

_Can you say it right?_ Ash teased in her mind and she elbowed him before answering her brother. "Katoteros," she told him. "We were in Katoteros."

"Where the hell is that?"

"Somewhere you can't come bang on the door," Ash growled at him, still obviously irked about Nick's ill-timed visit last night.

Maya grinned up at him. "Technically, there's not a door," she pointed out.

"I told you we needed to stay and take care of that," Ash said, shaking his head, "but oh, no, you just had to come back here." Then he glared back at Nick, but his lips were twitching. "And even if there was a door, you couldn't _get_ there to bang on it," he added. "That's my favorite part. The door itself is immaterial."

"Bite me," Nick snapped, glowering.

"You'd give me indigestion," Ash shot back, completely deadpan.

Vane laughed just as Talon strode in from the den. Maya turned to greet him but Talon took one look at her and bolted. Her eyes widened at the huge warrior ducking right back into the den. She glanced up at Acheron. "What did you do to him?"

"Oh, it's not me," he told her with a shrug. "I forgot to tell you one little thing about the Dark-Hunters. Since they have no souls they're forbidden to be in the presence of the gods. Technically, you're now supposed to annihilate him on sight, but I'd really rather you didn't, and I don't think anyone else here will hold you to that."

_"What?!"_

A multitude of voices cried the question and Maya jumped, but Ash spoke before she could think of a thing to say. "Talon, it's all right," he called. "Come out. I promise you she has no interest in killing you."

Talon hesitantly poked his head out the door again. "You weren't a goddess last time I saw you," he said accusingly. "What happened?"

Nick looked ready to faint. Maya gave him a reassuring smile before answering Talon. "Hey, you help reincarnate a god, you get some perks," she said lightly.

"Helluva perk," he commented dryly, finally daring to step out of the den again.

"Maya, are you serious?" Nick finally found his voice to ask. "No, there's no way. You can't be serious. You're no goddess!"

Amanda's astonishment showed as she read Maya's aura. "Um, Nick, yes she is," she said.

Vane grinned at Ash, shaking his head. "Nice," he said. "Very nice. You have all the luck. You find the hot female, win her, and now you get your very own goddess. Damn, Acheron, why are the Fates so good to you?"

Ash's mouth twisted wryly at that irony. "Lucky, I guess."

Maya squeezed his hand. _Are you going to tell them?_ she asked silently. _Or are you a god in the closet?_

His laughter filled her mind. _I'll stay in the closet for now,_ he replied. _I don't mind you knowing all my secrets, but these beasts…I like to keep them guessing. That way they fear me more and obey a tiny bit better._

_Don't worry, I won't "out" you._ She smiled again. _Let them think I'm the powerful one in the family. There's a hoot!_ Then she looked at her brother and her smile faded in concern. "Nick, are you all right?" she asked, crossing the foyer to take his arm.

He laughed a little crazily. "Oh, sure, why wouldn't I be? My sister gets kidnapped by Daimons, gives birth to a god, disappears, and now she shows up a day later and everyone says she's a goddess!" He ran a hand through his hair and groaned.

Maya frowned and dragged him to the stairs. "Sit," she commanded, pushing him down before sitting beside him. "Believe it or not, we came back to reassure you, not freak you out."

"Well, mission failed," Kyrian said. "You freaked him out."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Maya snapped, rolling her eyes. "I figured that out for myself. The hyperventilation gave it away."


	28. Chapter 28

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

At that moment Marissa let out a cry from upstairs and Amanda started up the stairs to go to her. Maya felt the most amazing thing, almost like a bubble rising within her, and she instinctively knew what it was. "I'll come with you, Amanda," she offered. "I think Nick needs a moment."

Only when they were in the nursery did Maya speak again. "Can I give her a blessing?" she asked Amanda, still feeling that strange "bubble" of power.

Amanda looked up in surprise as she lifted Marissa. "You want to bless her?"

Maya nodded. "I've never done it before," she admitted, "but when she cried I felt it and I know I can do it." She met Amanda's eyes. "I guess we didn't tell you, but Archon made me the goddess of desires—I'm better than a genie in a bottle. I can give her anything."

"Wow," Amanda whispered. "What—what would you give her?"

Maya smiled. "What would you have for her?" she asked in return. "If you could have any wish for your daughter, what would it be?"

"And you can really give it to her? You can grant it, whatever it is?"

Maya nodded. Amanda bit her lip and looked down at her precious daughter. Maya didn't rush her as she considered. Then Amanda looked up. "I would wish that when the time comes, she finds a man to love as much as I love Kyrian, as much as you love Acheron. A man who will love her with all that he is and will make her happy every day of her life." She met Maya's eyes shyly. "Can you give her that?"

Maya smiled and Amanda stared in amazement at the lights dancing in her eyes. In that moment she looked every inch a goddess. "Yes," she said simply and held her arms out for the baby. Amanda let her take Marissa from her arms and clenched her hands tightly together as she watched Maya bend and kiss the baby on her forehead.

Marissa's aura rippled and flowed with that kiss, turning a beautiful violet for a brief moment. When her aura returned to its normal colors a violet tint remained, surrounding her little body. Tears came to Amanda's eyes. She accepted her daughter back from Maya, unable to look away from Marissa's aura, seeing the blessing shimmering there. "Thank you," she whispered.

Maya hugged her. "No," she said. "Thank _you._ If not for your kindness in opening your home to me, a complete stranger, I would never have met Ash. I would never have escaped the Daimons last night. This—" she stroked Marissa's perfect round head, "—is nothing in comparison to that."

Acheron strode into the nursery at that moment and took Maya in his arms. Amanda couldn't help but smile at the sight. "Couldn't stand to be away from her, could you?" she teased.

He kissed her forehead. "I admit it," he said with a smile. _I felt what you did for Marissa, _he thought to Maya. _It was well done of you._

She beamed at him. _It felt good,_ she replied. _It felt right._

"Since you're wanting to reassure everyone," Ash said, "I think we should drop by Sanctuary. I had every Hunter in the city out looking for you last night. I'm assuming Kyrian let them know that you were safe—" he shot a look at Amanda who nodded, "—but I know Papa Peltier. He'll want to see it with his own eyes before he believes it."

Maya nodded even as her heart melted at the revelation of the lengths he had gone to in his desperation to find her. "Just let me change," she said, looking down at the silk dress. "This is beautiful, but I can't see wearing it to Sanctuary."

He stopped her in the hall when she started to turn toward her old room. "No, use your mind," he said. "You don't have to physically change. Picture it instead."

Maya bit her lip and nodded. He was right. She needed to practice using her powers until it felt natural to her. She concentrated, building the image of her favorite bad-ass clubbing outfit. Within seconds she felt the silk replaced by cool leather pants, the sandals morphing into knee-high stiletto boots. A tight leather corset and flowing duster completed the outfit, and when she wiggled her toes she smiled up at Ash. "I got the socks this time," she told him.

He was devouring her with his eyes. "I don't know if I should allow you to wear that for anyone but me," he growled. "Damn, woman, you're far too sexy in that!"

"Well, last time I was there I was the only one not dressed all in black leather," she told him, glowing with pleasure at his praise. "I'll be more inconspicuous in this, don't you think?"

"Last time you stood out like a gem among common stones," he said softly. "And no man who sees this—" he ran a fingertip along the low top of her corset and a shiver of desire ran through her entire body, "—would ever accuse you of being inconspicuous."

She laughed and slid her hands over his shoulders before replacing the silk shirt she'd conjured for him with a tight black tee shirt and his long leather jacket. He was right, the more she practiced, the easier it was to do. "Well, I'm definitely not letting any other woman get a glimpse of your chest," she countered. "That's mine."

He pulled her hard against him, their bodies pressing intimately from knee to chest. "I'm all yours," he whispered in her ear. "Say the word and we'll forget Sanctuary and go back where no one can disturb us. You can claim every inch of me and mark me however you like."

She shivered again. "Oh, you're a tempting devil," she whispered.

He gave her that wicked half-smile that he knew melted her. "I'm certainly trying to be."

Maya stepped back resolutely. "Let's hurry up and get to Sanctuary," she said. "The sooner we get there, the sooner we can leave."

He laughed and took her hand. "Good plan," he agreed, leading her downstairs.

Talon whistled appreciatively when he saw Maya's new outfit. Ash glared at him but he ignored it. "You've got a damn hot girlfriend there, Ash," he said with a grin. "You gonna let me dance with her?"

"That would be _wife_ and _hell no_," Acheron growled, not even pausing as he guided her through the entryway and out the front door. He almost managed to slam it before the gasps of astonishment at his announcement got through, but not quite. Then he looked around and shook his head. "Damn," he said softly. "I forgot. I smashed my bike, and your Blazer is gone."

"You smashed your bike?" Maya repeated incredulously. "What happened?"

He smiled down at her. "It wasn't fast enough," he said, touching her cheek lightly. Then he sighed. "And I was really looking forward to another ride with you."

She blushed as she recalled the first time she'd been on his motorcycle. "Well, how do we get there then?" she asked. "I can tell you don't want to just zap us there."

"It's better if people don't see that," he agreed. "I suppose we'll just have to borrow Kyrian's car."

A black Lambourghini suddenly zoomed out of the garage, coming to a stop right in front of them with the motor purring like a great cat. Maya laughed when she saw that there was no one in the driver's seat. _You keep doing things like that and you won't be in the closet for long,_ she admonished.

"Love, I've _always_ done things like that," Ash countered, opening her door for her. "If they ain't figured it out yet, they ain't gonna."

She laughed again as he got in beside her and took off for Sanctuary. He parked in the alley behind the club and Maya shook her head at him. "Someone's going to strip and steal this if you leave it here," she protested.

"If they get past the Peltiers, they're welcome to the car," he said. "Now come on, let's go in and let everyone see you. Like you said, the sooner we begin, the sooner I can get you back to Katoteros and peel that outfit off of you."

"You're insatiable," Maya said, but it didn't sound like a complaint and he only grinned.

Dev Peltier had back-door duty and he nodded to Acheron as he led Maya inside. "Good to see you back safe," he said to her, not commenting on Ash's possessive grip on her hand. "We were worried."

"Thank you for looking for me," Maya said with a smile.

Dev looked at Ash. "Papa's waiting for you inside," he said. "He's upstairs in the restaurant area."

"Oh, good," Maya said. "I'm starving." _I didn't know goddesses could still get hungry,_ she commented to Ash.

_And just what did you think you would live on if not food? _Ash sent right back in a tone of unmistakable amusement. _My adoration for you?_

She slipped in front of him as Dev ushered them in and managed to slide her hand across the front of his jeans when they were packed together on the stairway. _I find your adoration quite, hmm, _filling_,_ she teased.

He shook his head at her as he grabbed her hand and returned it to less dangerous territory. "We need to get you something to eat," he said. _Find something else to do with your hands, you wicked woman, before you make me embarrass myself._

But all this talk about food was making Ash acutely aware that he had gone far too long without feeding. Maya had been with them for a month and he hadn't gone to Artemis once since she'd arrived. In fact he hadn't fed for about a week before Maya crashed the gates at Kyrian's and changed his life forever. He wasn't sure why he hadn't taken Maya's blood last night when they were making love, but he'd resisted.

Maybe he just didn't want her to see that animal side of himself again one second before it was absolutely necessary.

He'd never minded using Artemis as his food source. He didn't give a rat's ass what she thought of him and hadn't for thousands of years. But he loved Maya, worshipped his precious new wife with every cell in his body, and he was terribly certain that it was going to scare her to death when he bit her for the first time.

He would rather die than see that fear in her eyes again.

They slipped into a booth in the farthest corner of the upstairs portion of the club and Maya reached up and touched his face. "You look so serious," she said quietly, certain that he would hear her even over the noise of the crowd and the loud music of the Howlers onstage. "What are you thinking about?"

He caught her hand and kissed it, then smiled at her surprise at his public display of affection. He wanted everyone there to know that Maya was his, mortals and Hunters alike. He opened the menu for Maya and put his arm around her shoulders, drawing her close to his side. "Get some dinner," he advised. "We'll talk about it later, all right?" Sanctuary was not the place he wanted to have this particular discussion. Even with the music loud enough in there to rattle the glasses on the tables, Ash knew there were several present who would be able to hear every word he said, and no one but himself, Artemis, and now Maya knew the secret of his dining habits. He'd like to keep it that way.

Maya kissed his cheek and let it drop. She ordered a plate of jambalaya and ate as Acheron sipped a beer beside her and spoke with Papa Peltier. Affectionately known as Papa Bear to one and all, he was the only man Maya had ever seen who was actually taller than Ash.

When her food was gone, she sat back and watched Ash. She could just sit here happily and watch him for hours. The man was sex personified. He'd changed his hair color from jet black to a deep red when they'd arrived at the club, and though it had startled her at first, now that she was used to it she really liked it.

_You'll have to tell me your favorite color,_ Ash murmured in her mind, obviously catching her thoughts without missing a beat in his conversation with Papa Bear. _I usually change it every week or so. I've never kept one color so long as I kept that black, but I didn't want to do anything to make you think I was some kind of a deviant._

She had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud. _You? Deviant? _she returned in a tone heavy with sarcasm. _Now why would I _ever_ think something like that? Oh, wait, I know. The immortality, the powers, the vampire hunting, the—_

_I get the picture,_ he told her dryly. _And I actually prefer the term eccentric._

She laughed at that and rested her head against his arm, toying idly with the tablecloth. In her opinion he could be anything he wanted as long as he was hers. She would never get tired of looking at him, touching him, loving him. He looked so serious, so businesslike as he talked with Papa Bear. She suppressed a smile as her wicked side woke up and started plotting.

He definitely looked way too solemn. But she could help him there.

Her hand rested on his knee under the table and Maya slowly inched it upward, carefully shielding her mind so that Ash wouldn't be able to tell what she was planning. She felt the tension enter his body immediately anyway. _What are you doing, Maya?_

And now he was suspicious as well as serious. Well, she could cure his seriousness, and he was about to have his suspicions confirmed. She knew her eyes were twinkling with mischief but Ash still pretended nothing was happening and didn't look at her. _Nothing,_ she said innocently as her caressing fingers drew a little random pattern very high on his inner thigh. _I don't want to interrupt your conversation. Just ignore me._

_Oh, like that's possible,_ he shot back.

Her hand traveled up his hip and over to his navel. She took advantage of his untucked tee shirt to trace a fingertip against the bare skin of his stomach just above the button of his jeans and delighted in the tremor that ran across his abs. _Maya, _Ash thought sternly. _That's enough of that. This isn't the place for this._

_But I'm not doing anything, _she protested. Yet, she amended silently.

_You know exactly what you're doing,_ he said, another shudder running through him as she traced a light circle around his navel. _And when I stand up everyone here will know what you were doing, too, if you don't stop and let me clear my mind._

Maya's tone in his mind dropped its innocence and became sultry and seductive. Her hand slid down and cupped him through his jeans. _It would be a shame to waste something this impressive, don't you agree?_

His response came as a growl in her mind. _Unless you want me to take you on the table for all to see, I would suggest you stop touching me like that, woman._

She paid no attention to the warning, knowing that he would never do anything to embarrass her no matter how she provoked him. _This isn't about me,_ she thought. _This is for you, my love. Let me pleasure you._ She released the top button of his jeans and had the tab of his zipper in her fingers when his hand clamped around her wrist.

_Maya._ His breathing was coming faster despite his efforts to control it and Ash was infinitely grateful when Papa Bear got up and walked away. _You're making me crazy and we're in public. Is this really wise?_

Then he made the mistake of looking into her eyes. The mischief, the desire, and the love there stole every thought from his mind. "You said I could do whatever I wanted to you always," she whispered, leaning up to brush her lips across his. _Don't worry, _she reassured him. _No one can see anything. The tablecloth covers you._

_It's your hand covering me that has me concerned, not the damn tablecloth,_ he shot back, but he released her wrist and stretched his arm out across the back of the booth. He closed his eyes behind his sunglasses and fought to keep his face as blank and impassive as always when Maya slowly—gods, too slowly!—eased his zipper down and cupped him in her hand.

Maya delighted in the power he'd given her and the feel of him so hot and hard in her hand. She caressed him slowly, touching his mind to discover what he liked and doing it again and again. She stole a glimpse at his face and was astounded that nothing of the tumult in his mind showed in his expression. _Remind me never to play poker against you,_ she teased even as she stroked him.

_Right now all I want to do is take you home and tie you to the bed,_ he said, and even his voice in her mind was breathless with desire. _Cards are the furthest thing from my mind._

Her other arm was around his waist and she slipped it beneath his shirt so she could run her fingers over his sides and stomach as she caressed him beneath the table. Ash shivered and pulled her harder against his side. _I will get you for this,_ he vowed silently as she felt him coming dangerously close to release and fighting it with everything in him. _You'd better stop, love._

She simply shifted her linen dinner napkin unobtrusively from her lap and into his. She didn't slow even a little.

Ash bent and nuzzled her ear. "Mercy, baby," he begged hoarsely.

Maya turned her head so that it looked like he was simply whispering to her to shield him from any careless glances that might come their way. _Now I wouldn't be very nice to get you into this state and leave you there unsatisfied, would I?_ she asked, then shivered when he bit her earlobe.

Acheron tried to hold back but Maya was there in his mind, following his reactions, and she zeroed in on those touches that made him burn. She drew on her new and untested powers and tried to construct a shield around them, envisioning a force field enveloping their table and isolating them from the rest of the club.

As soon as she'd created the shield, Ash groaned in her ear and shuddered beside her. She reveled in his pleasure and caressed and squeezed him as his release shot through him, determined to draw it out as long as possible. She felt him bury his face against her shoulder and knew a sweet triumph that she had made him lose his iron control.

Then he turned his head and pressed his open mouth hard against her throat. But instead of the kiss she expected, a sudden white-hot pain pierced the side of her neck. She gasped as his arm came tight around her, his hand cupping the back of her head to hold her in place.

The pain was gone so swiftly that Maya wasn't sure if she'd imagined it. Instead she was swept away by an ecstasy so intense and unexpected that she moaned aloud.

Ash came violently back to his senses at the sound. He released her immediately, closing the twin pinpricks on her throat with a kiss and his jeans with a thought, and sat back heavily against the padded back of the booth. _Forgive me,_ he whispered silently, not wanting to open his mouth to speak and have her see his fangs. Unable to look at her for fear she might catch a glimpse of his eyes around the edge of his sunglasses, knowing they were blood red and wild.

He remembered too well her terror the last time she'd seen him like this.

If he saw that same fear in her eyes now it would break his heart.

Maya shuddered at the sudden withdrawal of such exquisite pleasure. She understood exactly what had happened—she had wanted to make him lose control, and he'd lost it—completely. Somehow she knew that he bitterly regretted taking her blood for the first time in such an unromantic place and she felt the guilt that poured off him.

She wouldn't have it. He hadn't hurt her. In fact she'd never known pleasure like that before and she ached for him to do it again. She turned in the booth and rose to her knees on the seat, reaching up and cupping his face in her hands. She wanted to kiss him right now more than she'd ever wanted anything in the world.

To taste herself on his lips. To embrace everything about him, even this. To reassure him that no forgiveness was necessary.

He jumped when her mouth touched his. She didn't allow him to refuse to open his lips beneath hers, and when he did she kissed him passionately. Instead of shying away from his fangs she caressed them with the tip of her tongue, shivering in delight at their foreign feel.

When she finally pulled away they were both breathing hard. _Take me home right this minute and do that again,_ she said, opening her mind and giving him the memory of the incredible ecstasy his bite had given her.


	29. Chapter 29

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Maya laughed as Ash all but leapt out of the booth and pulled her through the club toward the back door. Mama Lo Peltier tried to head them off but Ash deftly steered around her, pulling Maya behind him. Only when they were back in Kyrian's Lambourgini did he take a deep breath and relax minutely.

But Maya had no intention of letting him off that easy. She waited until they were on the road before she unsnapped her seatbelt and turned in her seat.

Ash shot her a suspicious look as she pulled off his sunglasses. "What are you doing, Maya?"

"Just drive and don't worry about what I'm doing," she murmured, slipping his glasses into his jacket pocket and sliding her hand down his throat to the neck of his tee shirt.

He caught her hand. "Do you want me to drive or crash?" he asked softly.

She flexed her fingers against his chest and pressed her lips against his neck. "Relax," she breathed against his skin.

"I can't reach the gearshift with you leaning over it," he tried again.

Maya laughed. "Do you really have to use your hand to shift gears?" she teased. "And here I thought you could use your mind for that."

Ash gritted his teeth as he ran out of excuses. He drove as fast as he dared and wished he could just zap them out of there, but he couldn't abandon Kyrian's car downtown. His fingers tightened on the steering wheel as Maya slipped her hand free and made his shirt evaporate. "Maya," he whispered. He intended it to be a warning, but it came out as more of a plea.

That wicked mouth of hers followed the path of her hand across his chest. "Just drive," she repeated, and proceeded to do things to him with her hands and mouth that should never be done to the driver of a moving vehicle.

Ash pushed the car even faster and cursed the traffic that slowed him down. He was rock hard again even after what she'd done to him in the club and he knew he was in serious trouble now. He'd gone too long without feeding and Sanctuary had been the last test his restraint could take—there was no way he could climax now without blood, and the closer she pushed him toward it the more desperate he would become to feed. He tried to rein in the volatile emotions before they could overpower him. He was already burning with hunger and lust, not a good combination in the best of times, and now compounded by what had just happened. That tiny sip he'd taken when he'd lost control had only intensified his hunger instead of dulling it, and even now he fought the almost overpowering urge to slam on the brakes and satisfy the aching need within him.

He didn't want to bite her like that again and the things she was doing to him were doing nothing to help his unraveling discipline. But he couldn't make himself push her away. He seemed to have no self-control whatsoever where Maya was concerned. He lived for her touch no matter how close to the edge he was dancing.

He knew Maya felt the tremors running through him as she kissed her way across his abdomen and could do nothing to stop them. He felt the desire coming off her in waves and it excited him like nothing else, even more than the caress of her mouth on his skin. She ran a fingertip along his zipper and he couldn't bite back a groan. "You like that?" she whispered.

"If I said no would you believe me?" he countered hoarsely.

She chuckled. "No."

His entire body went rigid as Maya eased his zipper down and freed him from the confining denim. Ash held his breath, both dreading and yearning for what he knew was coming. When she blew warm air across his hypersensitized skin, the fangs exploded in his mouth and his fingers dove into her hair. He couldn't let her do this—it was too dangerous to inflame him further in his current state.

His body betrayed him, refusing to pull her away. Her tongue flicked and teased and it was pure bliss. The hunger built and demanded satisfaction. "Maya!" he groaned, half plea for mercy, half plea for more.

"You worry about the road," she murmured before taking him fully in her mouth.

The last five miles seemed like five hundred to Ash. Maya seemed bent on driving him completely out of his mind and she knew exactly how to do it. It was all he could do to breathe, much less drive. When the flashing lights of a police car appeared behind him Ash had to fight not to vaporize it instantly. Instead he sent a bolt of power straight at the policeman and barely registered the lights flicking off at once as the cop forgot ever seeing the Lambourgini.

Finally the gates to Kyrian's home shone in the headlights and Ash drove through them with immense relief. The beast inside him was roaring, clawing at his discipline, demanding that he take what he needed from her and take it _now_. Remembering the security cameras at the last minute, he blanked them as he sped toward the house just in case Kyrian or Nick were monitoring the video feed. Even in his half-feral state he wouldn't allow her to be embarrassed.

He stopped the car in the driveway—he wasn't sure he could concentrate enough not to ram anything should he try to park it in the garage—and zapped himself and Maya away before he gave in to the overwhelming urge to take her right there in the car.

Maya suddenly found herself standing in a bedroom she'd never been in and wearing a beautiful sheer gown she'd never seen before. She looked around in confusion, barely registering the huge mahogany bed and dark burgundy walls before finding Ash. He stood still as a statue, leaning his forehead against the wall across the room a good twenty feet away from her. She frowned at the chaotic emotions boiling off him. "Ash?" she asked, stepping hesitantly toward him.

"Don't," he growled, not moving a muscle. "Stay there, Maya."

She frowned in concern. "What's wrong? Are you all right?"

"No," he snapped, clenching his fists against the wall.

That answer killed all her caution. Maya crossed the room and wrapped her arms around him, needing to give him whatever he needed to cure his obvious suffering.

But before she could speak a word, he grabbed her and pressed her against the wall, trapped between it and his body, her hands pinned above her head. She gasped at the look of desperate hunger and need in his suddenly red eyes. His breathing was fast, his body rigid, and she could tell he was fighting hard to just hold her there.

He rested his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "I'm going to release you now and I want you to go back where you were," he whispered hoarsely, and she saw the glint of fangs as he spoke. "Don't run or I'll chase you. I don't want to take you like this, Maya. I can't go slow—or be gentle—like this."

And she understood what was wrong. He was struggling against his predatory instincts. She'd unleashed this and now he fought to suppress it again, remembering her terror the first time she had seen him like this.

But she wasn't terrified now. She loved him, all of him, and she understood his need. She tilted her head slightly and kissed him softly. He growled and shuddered against her but didn't open his lips. "I don't want you to go slow or be gentle, sweetheart," she murmured. "I just want you, any way I can have you."

In the next instant his arm was around her, lifting her completely off the floor. Maya wrapped her legs around his waist and felt their clothing evaporate just before he filled her with one sharp thrust. She moaned and arched against him, reaching her own climax almost instantly as he took her hard and fast against the wall, not resisting when his other hand tangled in her hair and tilted her head to the side to expose her throat.

The brief stabbing pain was gone in an instant, replaced by a tidal wave of ecstasy that almost robbed her of the ability to breathe. This made what had happened in the club look like nothing. She clutched his shoulders as his powers surged through her, more power than she'd ever dreamed he had, enough to move the sun and stars if he chose, and all she could do was hold on as the pleasure and power circled and built. She couldn't even hear her own panting moans as she rode the incredible combination. It went on and on far past what she thought she could stand, and finally she couldn't force herself to hold on any longer and let go, floating away on electric waves of pleasure.

When she opened her eyes again she was lying on the bed, cradled in softness, looking up at Ash's frantic face. "Wow," she whispered, smiling at him.

"Thank the gods!" he breathed, crushing her against his chest.

She felt him trembling and frowned as she wrapped her arms around him. "Ash, what's wrong?"

Acheron stroked her hair and squeezed his eyes shut. How could he explain to her the terror he'd felt when he'd come back to himself and found her limp in his arms? He'd been completely out of control, unable to remember anything but the incredible double pleasure of feeding and loving Maya. He had no idea what he'd done to her and the lack of marks on her body had done nothing to reassure him. The most irreparable damage he could do to her would leave no outward signs. "I will never do that to you again," he vowed fervently, unutterably grateful that she was awake and unharmed, that he hadn't committed the ultimate sin and taken her soul along with her blood. "Never again, Maya. I'll go back to Artemis."

Her gasp of outrage made him lift his head. Maya glared daggers at him and punched his shoulder hard enough to make it throb. "If you ever do that with anyone but me, I'll nail your hide to the wall," she snarled. "How dare you even _think_ of going back to Artemis?"

He shook his head, smoothing her hair back from her face and seeing the pain in her eyes at his suggestion. "My sweet love, it's not like that. I don't care if I hurt _her_," he explained softly.

Maya's eyes softened and she touched his face, understanding. "I'm immortal now, don't you remember? You can't hurt me."

He cradled her in his arms and kissed her. "I'm a god-slayer, love," he whispered. "I can hurt you."

Maya hugged him tight. "But you didn't," she countered. "And you won't. Ash, I never imagined anything could feel like that. That's why I fainted—not because I was afraid, not because you hurt me, but because I wasn't prepared for how incredible that would feel!"

He felt the truth of her words resonating in her mind and some of his anxiety eased. But he still had no intention of putting her in such danger again. "Let me use Artemis, Maya. I don't think my heart could take another scare like that," he admitted.

"Your heart's gonna have a stake through it if you even think of going to her one more time," Maya threatened, narrowing her eyes dangerously at him, and he knew she wasn't kidding in the slightest. "I'm serious, Acheron. You do that with her and I'll never forgive you."

He sighed and tried to hide how much her words pleased him. They shouldn't. He wanted to keep her safe at all times, even if that meant keeping her safe from himself. He lay down and pulled her tightly against his chest. She snuggled into him and the joy of that was almost as potent as the peak of the most intense climax. He shivered with the force of the emotions she made him feel. If something happened to Maya he would very likely destroy the world in his grief. "I only want to keep you safe," he whispered.

She kissed his shoulder. "Then don't go so long without feeding next time," she suggested as her body relaxed toward sleep. "It's incredible. I'll be your chew toy whenever you need me."


	30. Chapter 30

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Christmas at Sanctuary wasn't to be missed.

Maya had to remind Ash of that repeatedly as he kept trying to draw her back to bed while she was attempting to get ready.

"Ash!" she snapped, trying to hold back her laughter as he made the sleek dress and heels she'd conjured evaporate from her body yet again.

He just gave her that wicked little smile as he lounged on the bed, magnificent in his nakedness and more distraction than any woman could hope to deal with for long. "It's a crime to cover up that body," he said, snagging her hand and pulling her back toward the bed. "Mama Lo won't mind if we're a little late because you couldn't resist me."

Maya laughed and planted her hands on his chest. "We are already more than a _little_ late and it's completely your fault, not mine," she scolded. "Now come on, get up and get dressed! If we don't get there soon we'll miss seeing the cubs, and I want to watch them unwrap their presents."

"I'm already 'up' and I don't want to get dressed." Maya shook her head at him and Ash gave a long-suffering sigh. "Oh, all right, I understand. The needs of your husband pale in comparison to watching the cubs savage some stuffed animals," he lamented.

She grinned. "I took care of those needs twice already," she told him sternly. "And any other needs you have will just have to wait. I swear, you must have been the inspiration for the Energizer Bunny! Now will you please get dressed already?" She added the pleading look she knew he couldn't resist when he still hesitated.

Ash groaned in mock agony. "You're a cruel woman," he complained, but a moment later he was dressed in black leather pants and a blood-red sweater.

"Thank you," Maya said, forgetting she was still naked and leaning down to kiss him quickly.

Or at least she tried to make it quick. Ash had certainly not forgotten her nakedness and his arms came around her at once. He rolled her beneath him on the bed, devouring her lips as though he was starving for the taste of her. _I am,_ he groaned in her mind, clearly hearing her thought as he took her hand and guided it to the hard bulge beneath his fly. _I'm dying here, baby._

She laughed and managed to tear away from his kiss. "You're a big boy," she teased, dodging his lips only to have him suddenly devote his full attention to the sensitive spot beneath her ear that always made her burn. "I have faith that you'll survive until we get back home."

But she knew he couldn't miss the breathlessness in her voice and Ash pressed his advantage ruthlessly, his hot mouth moving down her throat to her breast as his hand parted her thighs. She moaned and arched beneath him. "Ash," she protested, but her hands slid through his hair to pull him closer.

Suddenly his clothes were gone and she gasped as he slid inside her. "How much do you care if we're a little bit later?" he murmured in her ear as he started to move. "Shall I stop?"

She locked her legs around him. "Don't you dare," she whispered, lost in the ecstasy of his loving.

They were very, very late to the Christmas party, but the cubs had been allowed to stay up late and Maya still got to watch them tear open the last of their gifts. Ash watched her as she laughed at their antics, shredding the wrapping paper and scattering it all over the great room and completely ignoring the toys inside, just soaking in her joy. He had never been able to feel a part of gatherings like this before she came into his life. She glanced up at him and he pulled her into his arms and kissed her softly, unable to resist those smiling lips. "You're gorgeous," he whispered when he pulled away.

"Enough of that," Mama Lo laughed, throwing a wad of wrapping paper at them. "Didn't you get enough in the three hours you were late?"

He caught it and fired it back in one smooth motion. "Can't help it," he said, wrapping his arm securely around Maya's waist. "It's entirely her fault. She kept dragging me back for more."

Mama Lo laughed out loud as Maya spluttered in outrage. "Oh, yeah, we believe that," she shot back. "That's why you haven't let her get two inches from your side all night, right?"

But despite her teasing, Mama Lo was thrilled at the change that had come over Acheron. He had been alone for far too long and Maya was so good for him. Never in her long life had she seen Ash happier. Mama Lo watched as the cubs' parents ushered them upstairs at last, Simi right in the middle of the action as usual, and noticed for the first time the light in Maya's eyes. Mama Lo had to cover her mouth to keep from grinning like an idiot.

Every woman alive knew that look.

Mama Lo watched from the corner of her eye when Maya turned to Ash as the others gathered around the tree so the adults could exchange gifts and stopped him from joining them. Ash looked questioningly at her. With her supernatural hearing Mama Lo could hear every word as Maya pulled him closer. "What is it?" Ash asked her, even his tone tender as a caress when he spoke to his woman.

She smiled at him. "I want to give you your gift now," she said, tugging on his hand until he bent low enough for her to whisper in his ear.

Mama Lo couldn't hear what Maya said, but she didn't need to hear the words. Ash suddenly stopped breathing, going still as a statue for a long moment before cupping Maya's face in his hands and gazing down at her in shock. His feelings, always so rigidly concealed, were laid bare on his face as he stared at her. "You're sure?" he whispered hoarsely, those swirling eyes ablaze with such naked hope and longing it made her heart ache to see it.

Maya nodded and took his hand, guiding it down until it rested on her still-flat belly. "Very sure," she murmured. "Can't you feel it?"

Ash closed his eyes tight as he suddenly pulled her into his arms and buried his face in her shoulder. Maya wrapped her arms around him as he clung to her. Mama Lo couldn't be sure but she thought she saw his shoulders shake. Her heart melted and her own eyes misted.

She turned to the others, quickly distracting them with the gifts to give Ash the time he needed to regain his composure before he had to face the others. It wasn't every day a man had his dearest wish granted.

"Yo, Ash!" Talon called, looking up a minute later to see the two of them still standing there in the foyer. "You gonna neck with your woman all night or get in here? I think Simi's gonna have a fit if you don't come open her present soon!"

Ash raised his head slowly and pressed his forehead to Maya's. She smiled up at him and hugged him once more, giving him a chance to wipe his eyes surreptitiously before he turned to reply to Talon. "Yeah, we're coming," he said, kissing Maya quickly before leading her into the smaller den.

"What was that all about?" Nick asked curiously, looking from Maya's flushed face and glittering eyes to Ash and back again. "Is something wrong?"

Ash laughed then, a sound of pure joy that came from straight from his heart, and pulled Maya onto his lap in an armchair. "Everything is perfect," he told Nick, grinning from ear to ear now that the shock had worn off and the joy overtook him. "Ready to be an uncle for real this time, Nick?"

There was a moment of complete silence. Maya blushed crimson and Ash kissed her deeply, and suddenly everyone was talking at once. In the din it was impossible to tell who was saying what, but one voice came through loud and clear.

"Simi gets to be an auntie! Oh, yay, Auntie Simi!"


	31. Chapter 31

**Written for fun, not profit, all characters (except Maya) property of Sherrilyn Kenyon.**

Kyrian, Amanda, and Nick knew instantly which room was Maya's. Simi stood in the hall glaring at the nurses as they passed by and scowling at anyone else who dared to get close, her wings hidden under a long coat. She grinned and clapped her hands when she saw them coming down the hall. "Oh, come see, come see!" she cried happily, bouncing excitedly on her toes. "Simi's new baby is so plump and fat, but Simi not eat her. Oh, no, too cute to eat."

Nick choked but Kyrian laughed. "Good call, Simi," he said. "I think your akri might frown on it should you try to eat his daughter."

Simi shrugged as though Ash's anger was of little importance and cracked open the door. She turned back to them and pressed a finger to her lips. "They sleeping," she whispered. "You wake 'em up and make Simi's baby cry, Simi make you sorry, got it?"

Amanda patted her arm. "We won't wake the baby, Simi, don't worry," she said reassuringly. Simi regarded her for a long, suspicious moment before stepping back to allow them in.

They would never forget the sight of the new family sleeping there on the hospital bed. Ash lay awkwardly on the narrow bed with Maya curled close to his side, his arm around her as she slept against his chest. His other arm cradled their newborn daughter to his heart, her round little head tucked beneath his cheek. His large hand covered her entire back from neck to diaper, only emphasizing the little one's fragility. Maya's hand lay beneath his on the baby's back and a little smile curved her lips despite her clear fatigue.

And instead of the carnivorous, violent aura that always flowed from Acheron like a tidal wave, they were almost bowled over by the force of the peace and joy that radiated from him now. Amanda clasped Kyrian's hand and wiped her eyes. Nick couldn't keep the grin from his face, forgetting at last his reservations about Maya's commitment to Ash as the happiness of the simple scene surrounded him. This was what his sister had always wanted—a man who loved her and a child to spoil as she had never been. Nick had never thought Ash could give it to her, but there was no denying the evidence of his eyes.

It was time to make peace with his brother-in-law.

Kyrian silently raised the little camera he'd brought and took careful aim before snapping a picture. Ash's eyes flew open at the flash and Kyrian grinned at him despite the fact that Acheron's eyes were blood-red and dangerous. Kyrian knew at once that Ash wouldn't hesitate to vaporize anyone who came near his family, but he wasn't afraid. He understood completely. "You'll want that picture," he said softly, careful not to wake Maya or the baby.

Ash's eyes returned to normal and he actually smiled as he kissed first Maya's and then the baby's forehead. "I'm sure I will," he agreed quietly. His smile broadened. "Come on, come see my little girl," he invited with unmistakable pride.

Nick was the first at the bedside and he touched the delicate cheek with a feather-light fingertip. "She's gorgeous," he whispered, pride sparking in his own chest. "I can't wait for her to wake up and meet Uncle Nicky."

Ash smiled. "Even if you do have to share her with Aunt Simi?"

"She reassured us she doesn't plan on eating the baby," Kyrian said, deadpan.

Ash's shoulders shook with repressed laughter. "That's a relief," he agreed.

"Can I hold her?" Amanda asked tentatively, clearly sensing Acheron's protectiveness but as always unable to resist a baby.

To his credit Ash only hesitated a moment. "Sure," he said, gently moving Maya's hand and helping Amanda lift the sleeping baby from his chest. He opened his mouth, then thought better of it and shut it again.

Kyrian looked at him with knowing eyes. "You don't have to tell her not to drop the baby," he said, grinning.

"I didn't."

"But you were going to."

"Hush, you two, before you wake up Maya," Amanda whispered, snuggling the baby and rocking from side to side gently. "Oh, Ash, she's absolutely beautiful," she sighed, brushing a kiss over the sparse dark hairs on her delicate head. "What did you name her?"

"Eleni," Ash murmured. When Nick raised an eyebrow, Ash only smiled again. "Maya chose it," he said. "She wanted something Atlantean."

"Eleni Parthenopaeus," Amanda echoed softly. "It's beautiful, Ash."

Nick grinned. "Yeah, but she's gonna have a helluva time learning to spell it!"

Amanda gave him a quelling look but let Nick take the baby and had to grin at Ash's tension when Eleni moved from one to the other. "We won't drop her," she reassured him. "Honestly, Ash, how are you ever going to deal with her dating if you can't even stand to have her out of your arms for two minutes?"

"She's never going to date, and since I've only been able to hold her for the last hour after waiting more than eleven thousand years for her, I think you should cut me some slack," Ash shot back, but his eyes were glowing with joy and love as he looked back at his daughter.

Amanda snorted. "I bet you were hell on the delivery room staff."

"How's Maya?" Kyrian asked.

Ash brushed her hair off her forehead gently. "Exhausted," he said softly, pressing another kiss to her forehead. "Gods, she was incredible, Kyrian. She wouldn't take anything for the pain, just toughed it out. I am still in awe. I wasn't able to be there for her when Archon was born and I had no idea what she went through. My gods, she's strong." He hugged her a little closer and looked up to see Kyrian giving him a knowing smile. "They're amazing, aren't they?"

Kyrian smiled at Amanda as she bent close to coo at the baby. "Incredible," he agreed. "I think it would kill me."

Eleni woke and let out a soft mewling cry. The door burst open at once and Simi stormed in furiously. "Okay, who made Simi's baby cry?" she demanded.

Ash held up a hand. "Easy, Sim," he said, averting the imminent death and destruction Simi was clearly preparing to unleash on them all even as Kyrian noticed him tensing at the sound of Eleni's cry. "All babies cry from time to time. It doesn't have to mean something's wrong." The haunted look in his eyes had Nick suddenly trying with all his might to reassure the fussing baby.

Maya woke as Ash's voice trailed off and she smiled to see her brother and Kyrian and Amanda there. "Sounds like someone's hungry," she said, holding out her arms and taking Eleni from Nick. Ash pulled the blanket up over them as Maya brought the baby to her breast and within seconds the baby quieted. Ash relaxed visibly.

Kyrian steered everyone out a few minutes later to give the new family time alone to bond. Ash couldn't tear his eyes away from Eleni as she nursed. "A miracle," he murmured, stroking her little arm with a fingertip.

Maya smiled at him. "Of course," she said. "Isn't that what I'm supposed to do now?"

He laughed and took the baby when it was time to burp her. Maya could already tell she was going to have to pry her daughter out of Ash's arms to get any time with her at all—the man was totally smitten and she had never seen anything sexier in her life than the sight of him cradling the tiny infant in his huge hands. He looked at her over the baby's head. "Thank you for being my miracle, Maya," he whispered.

A sound like a whip cracking split the air before Maya could reply and they both looked up to see Artemis glaring at them. Ash tensed but his hands didn't hesitate as he continued patting Eleni. "You really don't want to make me get up from this bed, Artemis," he warned softly.

Artemis crossed her arms over her chest and glared at the baby. Maya started to move but Ash tightened his arm around her and she subsided. "If you want something, say it and get out," Ash growled. "You've ruined enough of my life. I don't want you messing with this day, do you understand me?" Though he didn't move a muscle, the threat was clear.

Artemis forced her angry gaze from the baby and met Ash's red eyes. "I need you to take care of a Hunter problem," she said at last, completely ignoring Maya.

Eleni burped at that moment and Ash smiled. "My thoughts exactly," he murmured, kissing her head before looking back up at Artemis. "Go see Zarek about it," he suggested. "I'm taking some time off. Call it paternity leave."

His grin infuriated her and she stamped her foot. "I will _not_ go see Zarek about it," she snapped. "I want you!"

"Too bad. You can't have him," Maya said, resting her head on Ash's chest again and unable to keep her intense dislike of the goddess from showing in her eyes. She didn't even try to hide her triumph. "So run along now, will you? You do nothing for the décor."

Artemis's eyes narrowed and she raised a hand threateningly. "Simi," Ash summoned calmly, and suddenly there was an enraged red dragon snarling furiously at the goddess and blocking the family on the bed from whatever supernatural weapon Artemis had been about to fling.

"You not gonna hurt my baby, you stinky heifer," the dragon Simi growled. "Can I eat her this time, akri? She pointing at Simi's baby and Simi don't like that." She bared her formidable fangs with those words and Artemis stepped back, paling.

"What's it going to be, Artemis?" Ash asked softly. "Do I let her eat you, or will you back off and never come near my family again?"

Artemis hissed like an enraged cat. Ash nodded. "Simi—"

"No!" Artemis interrupted, backing still further away from the dragon. "Damn you, Acheron, I'll leave your whore and your kid alone." Even she apparently had enough sense not to insult the baby, but Ash's rage at what she'd called Maya suddenly filled the room.

It was Maya who kept him from annihilating Artemis on the spot. "She isn't worth it," she murmured, slipping her hand in his. "Don't let her ruin Eleni's birthday. You know that's the only reason she came."

Ash nodded curtly and glared at Artemis. "Go see Zarek if you have a problem. I do not want to see your face again for the next month," he bit out. "Understand me now, Artemis. I would sooner see you dead than see you anywhere near my wife or my daughter ever again. Simi, get her out of my sight."

Simi's laugh of glee was interrupted by Artemis vanishing in a flash of light. Simi shrank back down to her human form and pouted. "Aw, akri, that heifer goddess take all the fun outta everything," she complained. "Why you not let Simi eat her? Barbeque off all that nasty red hair and just chomp her down!" She licked her lips at the thought.

Maya laughed and even Ash smiled a little, though his eyes were still angry. "She comes near Eleni again, Simi, you can do whatever you want to her," he said.

Simi grinned, exposing needle-sharp fangs. "Ooh, I really really hope she comes back soon," she said, rubbing her hands together. "Is Simi gonna stay on baby Eleni now, akri, so Simi will be right there to eat the heifer goddess if she comes back?"

She sounded so hopeful Maya had to laugh. Ash glanced down at her. "Any objections to our daughter getting a tattoo?"

Maya laughed again, wincing a little with soreness but waving away Ash's concern when he saw it. "An hour old and she's already a nonconformist," she smiled. "If you don't mind being without Simi, I certainly don't object to her staying with Eleni." Then she laughed again as she glanced at how closely he held their daughter. "Although, I don't really think you'll have a chance to miss Simi because it seems like you're joined to Eleni at the hip," she teased.

Simi danced in a circle before dissolving into a stream of smoke. She settled gently on Eleni's shoulder, a dragon so tiny she looked almost like a freckle. The baby jumped but Ash rubbed her back and she didn't wake.

Maya lifted one of her delicate hands and watched as Eleni closed her little fist over her finger. She touched the tiny pinkie and grinned at Ash. "Is this the one she has you wrapped around?"

He smiled and brushed a kiss over her lips. "Like mother, like daughter," he murmured. "I don't seem to mind being a kept man."

Maya laughed and snuggled against him, sleepy again despite the excitement of a moment before. Despite the tension that had filled the air, she knew Ash well enough now to know that she and Eleni had never been in any real danger. Ash shifted a little and she smiled. "Uncomfortable?" she asked, starting to move over to give him more of the bed.

He locked an arm around her waist and didn't let her move. "How could I be? I'm in heaven, love. Don't move a muscle. Just rest and let me hold you both, and I'll stay here until the end of time." Maya hugged him and relaxed again. They were silent for a moment before Ash spoke again. "How soon can we give her a little brother or sister?"

She lifted her head and gaped at him. "_Another_ one?" she sputtered. He grinned unrepentantly. "You, sir, are absolutely insane to ask me that right now. Do you have any idea how much it hurts to give birth?"

His eyes softened with concern. "You should have taken the medicine."

She waved a hand. "I didn't want it to affect Eleni," she said with a shrug.

He kissed her softly and drew her head back down onto his chest. She listened to his heart beat and sighed in contentment. "I thought women forgot the pain," he said after a moment. "I certainly hope you do, because one isn't enough."

Maya laughed again. "It takes a few months to forget it," she told him sternly. "So I would advise you to be happy with your daughter!"


End file.
